Myths
by Michele D
Summary: People and places aren't always what they seem. Takes place 10 years after Chosen and after Season 2 of Lost Girl. Does not follow cannon for S8 of BTVS or S3 of LG. This is a cross over with ShowCase's Lost Girl series. Note: Pairings are subject to the whim of my muses!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter – 1**

She walked into the place like she owned it. Hostile glances, some covert, some not, even a few that bordered on something akin to hunger, were sent in her direction as she made her way over to a barstool and sat down. The air was filled with tension and suspicion; she was an unknown in a place where too many secrets dwelled.

She had been in many bars in her life, too many if you asked certain people, some good, some bad, but this one was different. She wasn't quite sure how or why, it just was. It didn't send her senses reeling into overdrive, nor was the minor cramping of her stomach warning her, because that too felt different than normal. Not wrong, not right, just different. For a brief second her brow furrowed with confusion, she had come in here for nothing more than an ice cold beer and now it looked like she had a mystery to solve.

She mentally shook off the eyes boring holes into her back, she was used to eyes on her, and sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes bad. She put on her best smile as the bartender, who curiously enough was a dwarf, made his way over to her.

"Lost?" he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. The fact that he greeted her in such an overt friendly, teasing manner sent a clear message to his customers to behave themselves, he had for all intent and purposes claimed her. Unless he indicated otherwise, she was off the menu.

Instantly she liked him, and straightaway felt like he was someone she could trust and count on if her back were against the wall. That in itself was extremely weird and very rare for her. There were very few people she had ever trusted in her life, and trust had never, ever come easy for her, let alone immediately, she'd been burned one too many times. "Only if what you've got coming out of those taps is root beer." She replied.

For his part the bartender instantly felt the same way about the young woman sitting at his bar, it both puzzled and intrigued him. "Actually, we do…"

"For real?"

"Yes, for real…" he chuckled, "the other taps however are not root beer."

"Please by the PTB's tell me what's in those other taps are alcoholic in nature." She gave him her infamous half-smile, and a pleading look.

"I believe the Powers have just answered your prayer. They are indeed alcoholic in nature. We have lite, and we have dark. So tell me, are you of the _light_ or of the _dark_… kind of girl?"

His tone was teasing and his question innocent enough, but somehow she knew he was asking so much more. She stared into his eyes and for some reason she wondered the same thing about him, but the longer she looked the more sure she was that his answer would be light.

"These days, I seem to be a _light_ kind of girl." She smiled at him, but there seemed to be a little bit of uncertainty in her voice, as if she wasn't quite sure herself.

Then he saw it, in her eyes, the light that shone from within, and the darkness that warred with it. And in that moment he knew, she was no ordinary girl, but then again he was no ordinary man.

"Lite it is…" he said, as he moved towards the taps, but not before he heard her murmur under her breath, "For today and hopefully every day."

"Here you go; one ice cold lite beer."

"In a frosted mug, think I'm gonna like this place." She smiled at him, "What'd I owe ya?"

"Do you want me to start a tab?"

"For real? Dude you don't even know me, I could skip out the back door and you'd be paying for my drinks with your tips. So what'd I owe you?"

"Trick," he said holding out his right hand.

"What?"

"I'm Trick."

"Oh…" she smirked and shook her head, "For real?"

"Yes, for real," he replied, his hand still outstretched towards her.

"Faith," she took his hand in hers and he wasn't at all surprised by her strong grip. "All we need is B and we'll be good to go."

"We need a bee for… what exactly?"

"Never mind, long story…" she replied, and he watched a shadow cross her face.

In that brief moment he caught a glimpse of the ghosts that haunted her. There was mystery surrounding this young woman, and he wasn't quite sure, he couldn't be one hundred percent positive but he thought she was like them or something pretty damn close to them.

She spun around on her barstool and took in the place and all its customers in with a glance. There was only a handful or so spread out around the bar. Then again she didn't expect it to be packed on a Tuesday afternoon. She spied the pool table off to the side, and a smile spread across her face.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out some bills. "Change for the table please, Mr. Trick."

"Table is free, Ms. Faith," he slid the bills back at her.

"For real?"

"For real…" he chuckled, and something told him, that for this young woman nothing had ever been truly free.

"Oh yeah, definitely gonna like this place, in fact it might be my favorite place in the whole wide world right now."

Trick smiled indulgently at Faith, he liked this girl.

"Wanna shoot a game with me?" Faith really didn't expect Trick to say yes and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why the hell she asked in the first place.

"Sure," Trick smirked, then chuckled at the surprised look on Faith's face.

"You sure your boss won't mind, don't wanna get you fired or nothing."

"Pretty sure the boss won't care."

"Gotta warn ya, I'm a pretty good player," Faith slid off her barstool, and started sauntering in the direction of the table. She turned back towards Trick and asked him once again, giving him one last out. "You sure the boss won't mind?"

"Considering I own the Dal, I'm pretty sure the boss won't mind," and he couldn't believe that came out of his mouth, half his customers didn't know he owned the bar, and now he had just gone and told a complete stranger.

"For real…"

"Yes, for real…" he chuckled, "Now rack 'em. Oh and I should warn you… I'm a pretty good player too."

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They played for two solid hours, only stopping long enough for Trick to serve his customers. Damn, he was good; she had only won three of their games. She liked the fact that he hadn't let her win just because she was a woman. She also liked that at some point, Trick had started tutoring her, showing her what she was doing wrong and complementing her on what she was doing right. By the end of the two hours Faith had learned more about shooting pool then she had in all her years of playing, and she was a good player to begin with, even Trick had said so. She might have been good, but he was better… not just simply good… he was a damn master.

Over the course of the two hours, Trick had learned a few things about the young woman that so intrigued him. She was from Boston, but he had already known by the slight accent she still carried that she was from somewhere in New England. She had no family left in Boston or at least from what she implied no one she cared to call family.

She was single, thirty years old and had been on her own since she was fourteen. From the hurt and shame he had seen flash across her face when she casually tossed that tidbit out he let the subject drop. He was old enough, been around enough, had seen enough in his long life to know that look, and he closed his eyes briefly in disgust at the horrors people of all races were capable of inflicting upon each other.

She worked as a freelancer, a job she told him that took her all over the country, and sometimes even out of the country. She had been doing it for the last few years. What she didn't tell him was what kind of freelance work she did do, and he had a funny feeling had he asked, that her answer would have been the first lie she told him.

When he asked her where she called home, she stared at him with a wistful look on her face, shrugged and told him, she couldn't really say she had ever had a place she called home.

He was actually sorry when the bar started to fill up and he had to call an end to their time together. He was slightly amazed when he realized that he hadn't even bothered to check to see in the last two hours if any of his less than _'normal'_ looking customers had shown up.

He checked now and gave an internal sigh of relief when he saw none had. For some strange reason though he knew she wouldn't have been surprised if any of his less than _'normal'_ customers had come in.

Regardless of what he thought he knew there was nothing written in stone, and until he found out more about her, there was no reason not to be cautious. Not being reckless was one of the reason he had led such a long and healthy life.

Throughout the afternoon there was this persistent feeling that something about Faith was familiar to him but for the life of him he couldn't put his finger on it. In time he knew it would come to him, it always did.

Faith for her part couldn't remember the last time she had spent such an enjoyable afternoon with anyone, let alone a complete stranger. There was just something about Trick that put her at ease, made her let her guard down and the mask that she'd been wearing for as long as she could remember.

She realized as she followed him back over to the bar that while she had told him a few things about herself, he had told her very little about himself.

She knew he owned the Dal and that he was a master at pool. He had a granddaughter named Bo, who he was extremely proud of and whom he thought she would get along famously with, as well as with Bo's best friend Kenzi. From the tone of his voice when he spoke of Kenzi, she knew he regarded Kenzi with the same affection as Bo.

His wife Isabeau, whom his granddaughter was named after even if the spelling was slightly different, had died some years ago. She could clearly see written on his face how much he had loved, still loved his wife and how terribly he missed her. And she knew that it surprised the hell out of him that he had even told her those few things. There was something both familiar and comforting about Trick, and for the life of her Faith couldn't figure out why.

"Hey Trick," she said softly to him before he could jump back behind the bar.

He turned towards her with a smile, "Yes?"

"Just wanted to say thanks, I had a good time this afternoon," and she had. But like anything else all good times had to come to an end, and for Faith, the good times had been far and few between.

"I did too Faith and thank you." He smiled at her again as he jumped back behind the bar.

She dug out some bills from her pocket, more than enough to pay for the few beers she had, put her empty beer mug on top of them, and half whispered to Trick, "Maybe I'll see you around some time." She turned to leave, not expecting an answer.

"I hope so, come back any time, the door will always be open for you Faith." He shook his head, surprised once again by what had come out of his mouth without his permission. He knew though deep down inside it was the right thing to say and that he meant every word.

"You might regret saying that," she tossed back over her shoulder at him as she opened the front door to leave.

"I don't think so," he said too softly for her to hear and he knew that was right too.

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For the next three days straight Faith came into the Dal at the same time. Over the course of those days, neither Faith nor Trick found out anything more about the other. Their instant connection to each other grew stronger, despite or maybe in spite of the lack of exchange of personal information. It seemed that connection, that bond, was indifferent to the _normal_ notion of how one bonded to another. To both Trick and Faith it felt natural, it felt right, it felt like it would happen whether they wanted it to or not and so it did. They couldn't have stopped it if they tried and if the truth be told neither of them had the desire to even try.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter – 2**

It had been almost a week since they had been to the bar. They had decided to take a short vacation away from everything. Things had been intense lately and they both just needed a well-deserved break. Though neither of them would admit it they had missed the bar and the continuous antics that seemed to go on there and of course they missed Trick.

With a smile on her face Bo pulled the door open to the Dal and slammed right into Faith as she was leaving. She stumbled back a little; losing her balance, but was saved from the indignity of falling on her ass by Faith.

The grip around Bo's bicep was surprisingly strong and the rush of white hot lust she felt at the touch made her knees start to buckle and that was definitely a first, she was the one that made peoples knees weak, not the other way around. So for the second time in less than a minute she was saved from falling on her ass by Faith.

"You okay? Didn't see you, sorry," Faith murmured in a low husky voice.

Bo just nodded dumbly at the whiskey voiced woman and if Faith was feeling the same riptide of lust Bo couldn't see any 'real life' indication of it. Her aura, her sexual energy however, told Bo a whole other story. This woman burned hot, hotter than Bo had ever seen. Her hunger was off the hook and from what Bo could see it wasn't directed at anyone specific and that Bo could understand.

That slow burn, the _hunger_ as Bo called it, which just steadily burned hotter until it became a raging inferno that needed to be quenched no matter the cost or the consequences to her or whomever she was with at the time. In the beginning those consequences to others had been too high a price to pay and had stayed that way until she had finally learned how to control the hunger, thanks to Lauren.

Lauren, better not to think of her…

"You sure?"

Bo just nodded dumbly again and wondered if this woman was a Succubus like her, but she never got a chance to ask.

"Okay then and um, sorry again." Faith gave Bo a lopsided grin and was gone.

Bo watched her go, a part of her wanting to chase after her, the other part wondering if her legs were actually strong enough to give chase. Instead she just stood there a million questions buzzing through her head as she watched Faith make her way down the alley.

"Thanks for holding the door for me Bobo-licious," Kenzi threw over her shoulder as she blew past Bo making a b-line for the bar. She was halfway to the bar before she realized Bo wasn't following her. She stopped and turned around.

"Okay… that's different," she said to no one in particular. Kenzi marched back over to Bo and smacked her on the arm, "Bo... oh BoBo" She smirked and squinted down the alleyway to see exactly who, or possibly even what, was causing such a reaction from Bo. All she caught was a brief flash of long chestnut hair and a hot little ass before _she… he…it…_ disappeared around the corner.

"Snap out of it babe," Kenzi started tapping Bo lightly on the cheek.

As if coming out of a trance, though it was more a lust fueled haze Bo snatched Kenzi's slapping hand. "Hey!"

Kenzi just chuckled, wiggled her hand loose and then swiped her thumb under Bo's bottom lip.

"What the hell Kenzi?"

"You were so drooling, dude." Kenzi laughed, turned and made a b-line for the bar again.

"Drool, I don't drool." Bo shouted at Kenzi's back.

"Seems like ya do now babe. Trickster, two shots, extra big one for droolcubus!"

"I don't drool," Bo hissed under her breath.

"Do."

"Don't."

"Do too."

"Kenzi… I DO NOT…"

"Ladies, ladies, control yourselves," Trick smiled at his two favorite women in the world. He had to admit it, there was no way to deny it, Kenzi was the best thing that had ever happened to Bo and he loved her for it. He pushed two shots of tequila towards them, "As requested… and Bo try not to dribble it all over your chin when you drink it." Then he just laughed outright at the incredulous look his granddaughter gave him.

"For the last time, I DO NOT DROOL!"

"Maybe we should just humor her," Kenzi whispered to Trick out of the side of her mouth.

"I think you might be right," Trick whispered back.

"Oh for Christ's sake…" Bo hissed at the two of them and then just laughed at the impish looks the two were giving her.

It was good to hear her laugh. She hadn't been smiling or laughing a lot lately, not since Lauren had left. It had been a month that she had been gone now. Lauren had spent the night before she left with Bo and was gone the next morning before Bo woke up. They all knew she was leaving and they all understood why, even Bo.

She needed time and no one could blame Lauren for needing that time. Time to decide what it was she wanted to do now that she was free, truly free from The Ash. Did she want to continue her work, continue to live both in the Fae world and the human world? Continue to straddle the line between both without actually belonging to either.

More importantly, she needed time to figure out if what she felt for Bo was strong enough, sure enough to survive being in a relationship with a Succubus. Lauren knew better than anyone else, even Bo, what that meant.

With Nadia's death and her ties to The Ash severed there was nothing stopping them, all the obstacles that were there before were gone and that had just opened up all new possibilities for them both. Possibilities neither had dared to let themselves think about before.

Lauren knew, she would never, could never be enough to slake Bo's hunger, she was only human, so she needed to figure out if she could, if they could weather what that would mean to their relationship. She wanted to be fair to both of them, she was one-hundred percent certain of her feelings for Bo and she knew Bo felt the same for her, what she didn't know was if either of them could handle all that it entailed, if together they could endure. And she couldn't figure it out; neither of them could, while being around the other.

So they had talked and talked until they were both hoarse and they made love in between all the talking and in the end they had decided that time apart for now was the best course of action. Time for Lauren to figure out if she still wanted to be part of the Fae world, if she could handle what it meant to be involved with Bo and time for Bo to figure out if she could handle emotionally what she felt for Lauren and what it was she needed to do to survive, to stay alive.

Bo understood all the reasons they needed some distance between them in her head, her heart however didn't understand at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So…"

Bo turned towards Kenzi; she didn't say anything, just lifted an eyebrow at her, a small smirk playing around her mouth.

"Trickster…" Kenzi whined, throwing herself dramatically down on the bar.

"What…" Trick whined back, by the gods these two were a lot of work. He hadn't missed what happened when Bo plowed into Faith at the front door, then again there was very little he missed that went on his bar. Eventually he knew Bo would ask him about Faith, and the reality was he really didn't have much to tell. In the meantime though, he was just going to enjoy the Kenzi and Bo show.

Kenzi raised her head up off the bar and looked at Trick, "Bo's holding out on us and really dude, didn't think that was at all possible for our fav Succubus."

Still Bo said nothing the tiny smirk playing around her lips just grew larger.

"Bo, come on sweetie, give me something," Kenzi sighed dramatically.

Bo just laughed at Kenzi; she could be such a drama queen sometimes.

"Really," Kenzi turned all serious, "what was up with the whole gawking like the village-Fae-idiot you had going on, cause that's so not like you."

"I don't know…" Bo gave a self-depreciating laugh, "Trick, who was that woman?"

"Woman?" He knew damn well who she was asking about. He was just curious to hear what she had to say.

"Yeah, woman, around my height, long chestnut hair. Large soulful chocolate eyes, dent in her lower lip, raspy voice, that woman."

"Some booty mojo in the house," Kenzi teased Bo, who didn't look all that amused.

"No, yes, no… I don't know. Trick," Bo rushed out, "is she a Succubus too?"

"Okay… so not booty, maybe competition mojo…" Kenzi snickered, that would be interesting.

"No, not that, not either or I… I… I'm not sure what it was." It definitely wasn't competition and Bo could truly say that no one had ever made her feel quite that way with just a touch. Well that wasn't exactly true, both Lauren and Dyson had been able to make her knees turn to Jello, but never a complete stranger. She also knew that the reasons they had that effect on her had more to do with all the other emotions tied to them than just plain lust.

She couldn't help wondering though, if that was how it felt when she touched someone with her chi.

"Ohhh… a mystery," Kenzi rubbed her hands together in anticipation and both she and Bo turned expectant eyes towards Trick.

"Well?" Bo asked when Trick still hadn't answered her question.

"No she's not. Or at least…" Trick's voice drifted off; there were too many prying ears in the bar, both light and dark. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that this conversation was better had in private. "Come with me," he told the two women. "Watch the bar, I'll be back in a bit," he commanded the redheaded server, who just nodded at him.

They made their way down to his private dwelling without a word being said. They had barely settled into their seats before Bo asked, "If she's not a Succubus, then what kind of Fae is she? Because it sure as hell felt like she was, or at least how I assume one would feel, or how I feel like to others, or…"

"Not making with the sense here sweetie." While she said it lightly, there was an underlying current of concern in Kenzi's voice. It wasn't easy to throw Bo off her stride, but this simple encounter with the other woman seemed to be doing just that. She couldn't imagine what would happen if they ended up alone together for any length of time. Well actually she could, but thinking about that was just…ewww… "I mean you interacted with this woman for all of two seconds right?"

"Yeah and that's just it, **_I _**don't react to anyone like that, they react to me like that. So if she's not a Succubus, what is she?" And honestly why did she care so much? But now that she was thinking about it she had felt an instant connection to the woman, beyond the hunger, like somehow she was familiar, she felt a bond almost, it was similar to her reaction to Kenzi when she first met her, only not so much with the white hot lust mixed in.

Trick sighed, he really didn't have an answer for her, "That's just it; I don't know what Faith is. I don't know if she's Fae or human or something else altogether. But there was just something about her that felt…"

"Familiar." Both Bo and Trick said at the same time.

"So this Faith how is it that you don't know if she's Fae or not?"

"I met her for the first time," Trick started, he was just as confused as his granddaughter, "when she strolled in here Tuesday afternoon and I can count on two hands how many times over the years, someone not Fae has entered here unescorted."

"Let me guess," Kenzi said sarcastically, "little Fae magic keeping us non-Fae like peeps out."

"Not exactly, more like non-Fae don't really notice the place. And that hasn't always worked, despite what the Fae would like you to believe there are humans and non-Fae that are more sensitive to the magics and other not-quite-human things in this world."

"Go team human," Kenzi pumped her fist in the air.

Trick and Bo just gave her an amused look.

"It was like she was immune to the veil that shrouds the Dal, that shrouds the whole city actually," Trick continued, "And before you ask, it's just a spell, sort of like a magical blanket that makes non-Fae see what they expect to see, or not notice things like the Dal, or that someone's ears are bit too pointy…"

"Dude, we so need something like that for the Clubhouse so peeps will think we actually have walls."

Bo just shook her head and then unsuccessfully tried to cover up the laughter at what seemed to be Kenzi's serious request.

"What? I'm serious, walls would be nice, ten-inch steel walls around your bedroom would be even better. I'm gonna go deaf, dumb and blind and I'm not even the one who's…"

Bo slapped a hand across Kenzi's mouth before she could finish, "Trick doesn't need to hear about that," she hissed. "And it's so not what we were talking about. You were saying." Bo looked pleadingly at Trick.

He spent the next half hour telling them about his afternoons spent with Faith. "And in the end," he concluded, "I still don't know what she is all I know is she seems familiar somehow, and I don't know why."

"And so the plot thickens." Kenzi eyes lit up with excitement, she'd always loved puzzles and this was definitely turning into to one, "Looks like this is a job for PI Bo the Succubus extraordinaire and her luscious side-kick Kenzi."

"Really, Kenzi?"

"Yes, really BoBo."

"Stop calling me that, it makes me sound like I'm some kind of demented clown or something."

"What can I say babe, the truth hurts…" Kenzi snorted and earned a smack from Bo.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter – 3**

Two weeks later Kenzi wasn't thinking that they were extraordinary or luscious, more like inadequate, incompetent and totally inept. They hadn't found out anything at all about Faith. And they had tried, hell they were almost obsessed with finding her.

There was nada, nil, zilch, not one little trace of her anywhere, it was like Faith had fallen off the face of the earth. Neither the Light nor the Dark Fae had run across her and Bo had pushed both sides hard for information, but each and every time she had walked away empty handed.

Kenzi used all her street contacts, thinking maybe Faith was staying under the radar. And if Faith was lying low, then she was good, real good, and Kenzi knew all about that. About being invisible, disappearing and she had been good at it too. But Faith, if she was running under the radar was way out of her league.

Screw it, it was Saturday night, she was getting nowhere and she was bored sitting in her lovely house with very few walls. Bo had left an hour earlier to go meet up with some client in the next city over who had insisted she not bring her _'pet'_ human with her. Wasn't that just nice! Well screw him, it, whatever; she wasn't going to sit here all night killing hooker vampires. Besides she had already beaten the game too many times to count, and more than likely it would be morning before Bo got back. So, there was only one thing left to do.

She walked into the Dal ten minutes before last call. There were still a few inebriated Fae left, but otherwise the bar was kind of quiet for a weekend night.

"Kenzi."

"Trickster."

Before she even asked, he was pouring a shot of tequila for her. She downed it in one and he refilled it without asking if she wanted another. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

Kenzi propped her chin in her hand with a dramatic sigh, she was frustrated. A little part of her was worried too, which was friggin odd. Worried that maybe Faith, a woman she had never even met, had encountered the wrong Fae or wrong human, or even something that was neither and that's why there was no sign of her anywhere. She knew she wasn't the only one who was worried and it kind of surprised her a bit that Trick was so worried over someone he really didn't know.

Unless of course he was holding out on them… again…

A sly look crossed Kenzi's face when Trick finally sat down next to her with an extremely rare and very old whiskey in hand, after ushering out the last of the customers and cleaning up. "So… Trickster, anything you care to share?"

"About?"

"Oh you know, life, death, all things Fae, oh and hey maybe even Fai, as in _Fai_…_th_." So being subtle wasn't in her repertoire of things she did well.

"You think I'm holding something back?" He was a little hurt, but he couldn't be indignant about it, after all he had done it to them in the past. He had hoped they were passed it, but obviously they weren't.

"Well… you kind of did it before and more than once." Kenzi saw the crestfallen expression on his face and knew she was wrong. Those days were behind them. "Sorry," she whispered sincerely, "I was wrong to think that… It's just, I'm so damn frustrated."

"That makes two of us."

"And I do trust you Trick, just so you know."

Before Trick had a chance to say anything they heard the front door of the bar open and they both whirled around thinking it was Bo back early from her meeting.

"So nic…" The rest of what he was about to say just died upon his lips.

"Tell me I didn't miss last call! I so need a…"

By the look on Trick's face, Kenzi knew that their missing person had found them. "Let me guess, our misplaced chippy," Kenzi whispered out of the corner of her mouth to Trick.

Faith did a quick sweep of the bar with her eyes, then did the math. Empty bar, Trick and one very hot Goth girl, Kenzi, she knew from Tricks description of her and those two things equaled up to closed. And from the intense look on their faces they had been discussing something deep and maybe even personal.

"Wow, sorry… I didn't mean to just barge in and interrupt your private party… I'll just, this is me leaving, sorry again."

"NO!" Both Kenzi and Trick shouted at her at the same time.

Faith took a half step back. Now that was just weird. Maybe she had made a mistake coming here.

"Private party? Really dude, you think me and," Kenzi waved in Tricks direction, "it's just… it's just… well it's just not right, in so many ways.. I… I…" Kenzi floundered.

"I didn't mean," Faith began only to be interrupted by Trick.

"No worries, come join us," Trick was already behind the bar pouring a beer and a shot of JD for Faith, "Just do me a favor and lock the door first before you sit down."

He refreshed his drink and poured another shot of tequila for Kenzi who looked like she was about to have a coronary just from thinking about the two of them having a _'private party'_. He didn't take offense at the horrified look on Kenzi's face; he knew she regarded him with affection and perhaps even love, but not thatkind of love or affection. Hell the thought horrified him as well.

Indecision and a whole host of other emotions rode rampant across Faith's face.

Should she stay or should she go?

But she had, had a really shitty day, hell a really shitty two weeks. Her decision to come here had been unconscious, she had needed someplace where she felt accepted, where no one was pressing her for answers or results, where she could just let her hair down, where she could just simply be.

Here she could do that, just be. There was no decision to make; she locked the door and joined Trick and Kenzi at the bar.

She held out her hand to Kenzi in greeting, "Hi I'm…"

"Faith," Kenzi finished for her. "I'm…"

"Kenzi," Faith finished for her.

"Gossip much, Trick?" Kenzi asked sarcastically.

"Pot, meet kettle," Trick chuckled pointing at Kenzi and throwing back at her one of her and Bo's favorite expressions. "And what can I say, I like bragging about my granddaughter and her BFF."

"Really, BFF, do you even know what that means Trick?" Kenzi laughed. "Wait, wait, she knows Bo's your granddaughter, most of the Fa… um-ialy… Shot anyone?" Kenzi threw back the first and the second tequila shot before anyone answered her. "Please sir, may I have another?" Kenzi murmured in one of the worst English accents Trick had ever heard.

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Many shots later found them shooting very bad pool. Not much had been said between them, they were all too busy furtively watching each other, Faith observing Kenzi and Trick and they both observing her, though not one of them was fooling the other.

Faith however didn't realize that she had been slow in covering up all the raging emotions she had been feeling when she first walked in. Trick hadn't failed to notice how deep the shadows were that haunted her. Nor had he missed the sadness that seemed so bottomless in her soulful eyes and not surprisingly at all, Kenzi had noticed it all too.

Kenzi was a lot more intuitive then most gave her credit for. She could read people in just a glance, she always could and it had saved her ass on more than one occasion. Sure, there had been times when she had read people wrong, but they were far and few between, she didn't think this was one of those times.

It was a necessary skill as a survivor, and Kenzi, if nothing else was a survivor. She had never been one to ignore what her gut, her intuition was telling her and what they were telling her were the same things they had told Kenzi about Bo.

That this woman named Faith was someone she could both trust and count on in a jam, much in the way, if not exactly in the same way she did Bo. They also told her that Faith, like her, was a survivor, though she had a feeling that Faith's life had been much harder than hers had ever been. And she had secrets and things that haunted her in the night, much like Bo did, and somehow, someway she had managed to rise above them, rise above the darkness inside. That for Faith, like Bo, it was daily struggle and always would be.

It only took her the few seconds that passed when they shook hands and said hello for Kenzi's gut, her intuition to tell her, allow her to see these things. And she didn't question or fret over the fact that she liked Faith instantly or that she felt the same kind of bond, kinship with her so quickly like she had with Bo. Some things for Kenzi just were what they were.

It wasn't until the third time a pool ball went sailing across the room that Trick called a halt to the game. The two young women wandered with uneven steps over to the couch. Trick had thought about cutting them off earlier, but had reconsidered; they both looked like they needed a night away from everything to be just drunk and silly. Faith from whatever demons that haunted her and Kenzi from the hole in her heart named Nate.

And silly was exactly what they were being. At some point in the last hour or so Kenzi had started telling stories about some of the dumber things she had seen and done on the streets. Her tales were down right funny and had them rolling with laughter. Faith had chimed in with a few stories of her own from her time on the streets and they too were funny, but it was in the silence between the words that the two women and even Trick learned so much about the other. Those silences spoke volumes about each woman more than words could ever say.

They just got sillier as the night wore on and the bottles of Jose and JD that Trick had put on the table in front of them slowly disappeared. It was Faith who passed out first, despite her best effort. Once Kenzi realized Faith was down for the count, she tried to get up to leave, all it took was a teeny, tiny push from Trick to send her back down on the couch, pretty much right on top of Faith, and promptly pass out.

He smiled at the two women, went and got a blanket to cover them with and then retired for the night as well.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Bo got home at eight the next morning the first thing she noticed was that Kenzi wasn't there. She did a quick sweep of the house and didn't notice anything out of place, nor did she see a note saying she wasn't going to be home. It was the one and only rule they had; if either of them wasn't coming home they would let the other know. The life they lived was at times too dangerous, too riddled with the unknown; it was just safer and saner for both women to never break the golden rule. And neither of them ever had, until today.

She called Kenzi's cell and when it went right to voice mail, the panic set in. She dialed Trick, her first choice would have been Dyson, but like Lauren, he was gone too. Off to find his inner wolf, off to commune with the spirits, off to find a way to deal with all the shit that happened, off to see if what had been returned to him had changed, because in a very real way it felt like it had.

"Kenzi's missing." Bo rushed out before Trick even had a chance to say hello. "She didn't leave a note; she's not answering her cell…"

"Actually she's upstairs snoring from the sounds of it on the couch in the Dal." Trick cut in when Bo paused for a breath.

"Passed out?" Her tone made it apparent she was over the panic and clearly in the realm of the pissed off.

"Passed out," Trick confirmed.

"I'll be right over to get her up and out of your hair," Bo told him with an evil laugh.

"And Bo, Fai…" Trick trailed off, Bo had already hung up on him.

Looked like it was going to be an interesting morning, he kind of, almost felt sorry for Kenzi.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bo tapped lightly on the door to Tricks apartment, then proceeded to brush right passed him when he opened it, for the stairs up to the bar.

"And a good morning to you too," Trick called out to her.

"I'm sorry, good morning, " Bo stopped and turned around to face him, "It's just she knows better, we both know better and I panicked a little… okay a lot… and now well, now I'm just pissed off."

Trick didn't like the evil glint he saw in Bo's eyes, "Bo…" he said warningly to her back as she started to make her way upstairs again. He followed her; yes it surely was going to be an interesting day.

Bo stopped dead in her tracks when the couch came into view. Kenzi was sprawled on top of and cuddling another woman… a woman who looked, no… not just looked like, but was, Faith. She threw an accusatory glare over her shoulder at Trick, who just shrugged at her.

Didn't matter, she was still going to give Kenzi a wakeup call she wouldn't soon forget. She put her finger in her mouth, intending to give Kenzi the biggest, wettest willy she had ever gotten. Sure, she was an adult, sure she was a kick ass PI, and sure she was a hot, powerful, sexy, Succubus who had kicked the Garuda's butt, but there were times like now, where she could be just as childish as the next Fae.

Bo quietly and slowly made her way over to the couch. She made sure her finger was all but dripping salvia and ignored the fact that she thought it was actually pretty gross what she was about to do, but that wasn't going to stop her. Bo reached out towards Kenzi and the next thing she knew her wrist was grabbed and she was flying over the coffee table to land on her ass.

Bo realized four things in the next few seconds.

One: She was once again staring at Faith with her mouth hanging open like the village-Fae-idiot.

Two: Faith was standing protectively in front of Kenzi, her body while it appeared relaxed was actually coiled tight and ready for a fight.

Three: Those soulful chocolate eyes were anything but friendly.

And finally four: No ordinary, everyday human could have done what Faith just did.

"Oh bright light, bright light," Kenzi covered her eyes with one of her hands and squinted out from between her fingers, oblivious to what had just happened. All she knew was she had been unceremoniously tossed off the nice comfy pillow, no body, in fact it was Faith's body, she had been sleeping on.

Without thinking Bo tossed her sunglasses to Kenzi.

"Much, much better," She sighed as she slipped the sunglasses on. "Bo, sweetie?"

"Kenz, honey."

"Why are you on the floor?" Kenzi garbled out lowly, "And why do you look like you're mad at me?"

"Well she," Bo said pointing at Faith, while as gracefully and with as much dignity as possible got up off the floor, "knocked my ass over the coffee table."

Faith and Bo sized each other up for a moment. So this was Trick's granddaughter, she was pretty damn hot and she didn't look the least bit intimated by Faith or flustered by the fact Faith had just literally tossed her over a table. Bo for her part thought the same thing about Faith, pretty damn hot, and her energy, her chi was burning hot as hell. Bo had to resist the urge to reach out and touch her.

"As for you," Bo stared at Kenzi, "you didn't come home last night."

_Ooops -_ so that's how it was between them, that was a vital piece of information Trick had left out when he was telling her about his granddaughter and Kenzi.

"Your girlfriend passed out, too many shots were had last night. Better she stayed here then try to drive or walk home, this isn't the safest neighborhood." It was out of her mouth before she could stop herself, a half-assed, really not convincing, lame statement. She knew she wouldn't have believed it. This sticking her nose in other people's business wasn't her style, even if she was somewhat, okay a lot, to blame. But damn it she liked Kenzi.

"I could see exactly how she passed out," and if that didn't sound like she was jealous Bo didn't know what did. That was it though, wasn't it? She was jealous, only she wasn't sure if she was jealous because there was someone other than her that Kenzi felt comfortable enough, trusted enough and safe enough with to get that drunk with and pass out without a care in the world, or if she was jealous because it wasn't she that had woken up lying on top of the smoking hot woman in front of her. In the cold light of day, Bo knew it was actually both of those reasons.

"You can stop right there. A few laughs, a few games of pool, and way too many shots were all that happened between me and your girlfriend. That's it, nothing more, so there's no need for…"

"WAIT! Ouch, just wait," Kenzi interrupted Faith, "You think, me and… that we… that we're like muff-buddies? I need brillo!"

"Brillo?"

"Bad, bad visuals, need to scrub my brain… and coffee, coffee too." Kenzi sunk back down onto the couch, her head was pounding, and the visuals really were bad.

Kenzi's inane rambling broke the tension in the air. Both Faith and Bo looked at the poor hung over girl and started laughing.

"Really?" Kenzi mumbled at them, "And why is it I'm the only one who feels like a rat slept in her mouth and built a home?"

Faith shrugged, "Gotta love slay-vic genes," she finished lamely.

"The brillo and the coffee would be good Trick."

"Already have a pot on; I'll get everyone a cup." Trick headed towards the kitchen, his mind was racing. He had learned one thing today, he still didn't know if Faith was Fae, but one thing was certain she wasn't exactly human.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Sorry about the whole knocking you on your ass thing. Guess this would be twice now."

"Just once…"Bo smirked and smiled inside that Faith remembered her from their brief encounter at the door two weeks ago. "I didn't actually hit the floor last time." Then again Faith hadn't so much as knocked her down, as thrown her across the low coffee table. There was a big difference, for now though that particular white elephant in the room was going to be ignored.

Faith held out her hand towards Bo, "I'm…"

"Faith," Bo finished for her.

"Why am I not surprised you know my name?"

"Cause Trick is the washerwoman of the neighborhood," Kenzi snickered.

"Pretty awesome grandfather if you ask me," There was a wistfulness to Faith's tone when she said it, they all heard it and she knew they did and she cringed inside for revealing too much of herself.

"Trick most definitely is." Bo agreed with her quietly, she understood that wistfulness all too intimately.

"I definitely am what?" Trick asked as he set down a tray loaded with coffee, bagels, doughnuts and a single brillo pad for Kenzi.

"Awesome," Bo gave him a soft smile.

"Well look at me. How could I not be?"

"Oh shit, he's been hangin with us too much BoBo."

"BoBo, really? Are you like a demented clown or something?" Faith bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"See Kenzi, I told you," Bo glared at her best friend.

"Like I said BoBo, the truth hurts…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They were all quiet as they ate breakfast; Trick excused himself so he could start getting the bar ready to open. He told them to stay and enjoy themselves there was no reason they needed to rush off.

"How'd it go with the client last night, did you solvethe case?" Kenzi asked when she felt almost human again.

"No, I didn't and we won't be either. I didn't like the guy, there was something about him that made my skin crawl."

"You're private investigators, aren't you?" Shit, why did she ask a question, asking questions just opened the door to be asked questions in return.

"Yep, that's us, two private dicks," Kenzi wiggled her eyebrows at Faith, and then immediately regretted it. That had hurt.

"Last thing I would have pegged you two for were dicks." Faith just shook her head, "And that just came out in all the wrong ways."

"It sure did dude," Kenzi swatted Faith. "So you know we're _dicks, _what is it that you do to make the rent?"

"I'm a freelancer," could she be any vaguer?

"Freelance what, stunt driver, sky diver, mime…?"

Faith smiled at Kenzi, "I guess you could say I'm a freelance dick too."

"Dicks-R-Us, sounds like a company name for three hot chicks," Kenzi ignored the incredulous look Bo was giving her. "What? It could be if you were able to pick one team, pumpkin." Good gods she had diarrhea of the mouth today, it had to be the hangover; she was just all over the place.

"I told you before Kenzi, teams are stupid."

"I agree," Faith gave Bo a lopsided grin. And Bo just filed that away for later.

"So are you working a case in town, because Trick said you're not from around here?" Bo asked as casually as possible.

Lie or tell the truth? She could say she was just passing through, but if that were the case she'd have been gone by now. It wasn't like this was LA, New York, or San Fran, there was no big tourist attraction here, so there wouldn't be any reason for her to still be here three weeks later. In reality there was no reason to lie really; she simply didn't need to tell them everything.

"Yeah I'm here on a job, not having much luck though and I'm startin' to wonder if I'm working with bad info." Now why the hell did she go and say all that, when a simple yes would have worked just fine!

"What are you looking for?"

"Not a what, but a who, or rather, a them?" Faith stopped, that didn't make sense at all, "Missing person, persons actually, five of them. Like I said though, not having much luck, thinking the trail might be dead here, that or this is the most tight-lipped town I've ever been in." Again with more information then was needed, did Trick put something in her coffee?

"Not hardly…" Kenzi snorted and stared pointedly at Bo.

Bo chose to ignore both Kenzi and her remark, "Maybe we could help you out, we know from our own experience when we first started how hard it is to get information out of the people in this city. We've got quite a few contacts now; we might be able to get information you can't."

"I appreciate the offer, and no offense, but I like working alone." She wanted to say yes, but she knew she couldn't, besides wasn't everyone, including herself, always saying she didn't play well with others.

"Where's the fun in that? Name one thing that you can do alone that's really fun," Kenzi paused then decided to add, "And booty-mama don't you answer that, cause I know you probably have a long list of things I really don't want to know about."

"What do you have foot-in-mouth disease today?" Bo, try as she might, couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. Kenzi was just too much sometimes, but it was one of the things Bo loved most about her.

"Apparently," Kenzi laughed, then mumbled, "at least it's my own foot this time."

"Sure about that Kenz?" Bo couldn't help tease her.

"Or not," Kenzi said, and then eyed the doughnuts and bagels suspiciously.

Faith was leaning back against the couch, watching the two of them with absolute delight. They were just too much. She found she liked Kenzi and Bo, just as much as she liked Trick. There was no denying either, that she was attracted to Bo hardcore, and there had only been one other person she had ever felt this overwhelming lust for, it almost scared her a little.

But it was also starting to freak her out. This wasn't her, she wasn't someone who liked anyone quickly, or felt immediately comfortable with, let alone think she could both trust and count on them. It just wasn't her nature; it had been forced upon her at a young age for it to not be her nature, and over the years there had been very little that had changed that.

Adding to her confusion was the persistent feeling that these people were familiar to her, or should be, or maybe should have been familiar to her, Trick and Bo more so than Kenzi, but she too in her own way was familiar. It felt like somehow, someway she belonged here, somehow she fit in here, and she had never in her life fit in anywhere. And given who and what she was, she had to wonder if a spell hadn't been cast on her to make her feel this way, and the more she thought about it, the more Faith came to the realization that she needed to suck it up and make a phone call to find out if that was in fact the case.

"I've got to go," Faith blurted out abruptly, from seemingly nowhere and for no good apparent reason to either Bo or Kenzi. They knew they could be annoying sometimes, but they weren't being that bad today, or were they?

"Tell Trick I said thanks and bye, but I've got to motor. Maybe I'll see you two around again sometime." She didn't wait for a reply, instead she started heading quickly for the door.

Bo however wasn't going to let Faith get away that easy, she grabbed Faith by the arm just as she reached the front door. She wasn't prepared for the burning tide of lust that ripped through her, and swayed on her feet. Her head spun and all of her throbbed with fierce need, if Faith had been facing her, she would have seen Bo's eyes flash a luminous blue.

_Shit, _there was definitely going to be a booty call in her immediate future, her hunger was quickly spiraling out of control. It was a struggle to rein in her nature, her absolute need to just push Faith up against the wall and fuck her until they both passed out. With a deep breath she temporarily won the fight against her nature; she had come a long way from the girl who had walked into the Dal for the first time.

"Wait," It came out like a caress, low, husky, seductive and Bo couldn't help the slow sensuous smile at Faith's erratic indrawn breath, "at least take our cell numbers, and address in case you change your mind, or you know, just want to hang out."

Faith wasn't immune to the current that seemed to be flowing between her and Bo from that simple touch. She was far, far, far from immune. But other than her sharply indrawn breath she didn't let it show.

Meekly she let Bo drag her back to the bar and she waited impatiently as Bo wrote out the information. Not that she would ever use it, given her life, given who she was, there was no way she would drag them into it, it was too damn dangerous. She needed to get out of there, needed to move away from Bo before she did something stupid. As soon as Bo handed her the card she spun and was out the door with a breathless bye thrown over her shoulder.

"Dude, that was some major vag-mojo, I think it made even me sweat."

"I feel like an erupting volcano." Bo's hands were shaking, and her hunger was pushing hard against her control, it was going to break and soon.

It had been some time since she had fed her hunger with sex, a little chi here, a little chi there had been nourishing her, but she knew that wouldn't sustain her forever. The hunger had been building up and eventually she knew she would have to feed it, and right now it had been pushed over the edge from simple craving to feed or die.

"One extra-long-super-stretch limo 911 booty-call coming your way," Kenzi hit speed dial seven. "Team?"

"Both and I hope it's enough."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter – 4 **

It had been a little over a week since Willow had told Faith that as far as she could tell she wasn't under any sort of spell or magic effect. Their conversation hadn't been friendly but neither had it been unfriendly. The budding friendship that had started between the red-headed witch and Faith on the ride from LA to Sunnydale seemed to have just tapered off and died after The First had been neutralized.

Any expectation Faith had of ever being friends with any of the Scoobs, especially Buffy, began its slow death the night Buffy had suddenly popped up at Gigi's and in order to retain her cover Faith had to pretend, well it wasn't exactly pretend, to drown her.

The final nail in the coffin came when Giles had been invited back into the fold, into the Scooby Gangs lives, given a place at the Slayer Academy and that offer hadn't extended to her. Whatever hope she had of ever being part of the Scoobs, ended with his reintegration into their lives, hearts and homes.

While none of them were overtly hostile towards her, they also didn't give any indication that she was welcomed as a friend. The trust they gave her was done so grudgingly, and it was with a little bit of reluctance that they kept her on and allowed her to continue the work she had been doing with Giles.

Faith was under no illusion that when, and she knew eventually it would happen, they found another Slayer better than her at bringing the strays back into the fold, or at least back to Scotland or Cleveland in one piece, she would be completely cut loose.

Now however wasn't the time to dwell on all that, she still had the five missing Slayers to worry about. Young women that she had let slip through her fingers back at the academy.

Willow and Buffy had summoned her to Cleveland four months ago, the five young Slayers had them worried. They were all a little too rough during training, and a little too cocky and nasty about it. They all delighted just a tad too much in toying, beating and almost torturing the demons and vampires they hunted before they finally put them out of their misery. It reminded Buffy of Faith when they were younger and not in a good way. They were drunk with the power of the Slayer and it seemed to be getting worse.

Faith had spent two weeks with the girls at the academy, observing them, training them, going out slaying with them. She understood them; she had after all been them. She told them her story over the course of those two weeks of her slow decent into evil, into hell. How the power called to her in its seductive voice, making promises it would never keep. That all-consuming feeling of being unbeatable, untouchable, the addictiveness of playing god, of holding the power of life and death in her hands.

Then she told them about the loneliness, the isolation, the sour taste of what she had become. How it ate away at her, how the nightmares, Allan, and the Professor haunted her. The guilt like a worm boring into her, wriggling its way through her body, her heart, her mind, her soul. Because like them she did have a soul, she could laugh, she could cry, she could love and she could hate. Eventually if they let that darkness take over the only thing left would be evil, beyond caring, beyond joy, laughter, love and even hate. There would be just the power, the evil and it would own them, not they it.

At the end of the two weeks Faith had been confident she had gotten through to the five young women. Even Buffy and Willow agreed with her. And they had all been wrong and that was how she had ended up here in this city where too many secrets dwelled, three and a half months later, following the trail of destruction the five young Slayers had left, until the trail had gone silent.

It was the quiet before the storm, and Faith knew in her gut the worst was yet to come.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x

She had to have walked a good ten miles in the last few hours. She finally came to a stop just as dusk was settling over the city. She had been hoping against hope that she would _feel_ the other Slayers. Thing was she could, but at the same time she couldn't. They were here, somewhere, but she couldn't pinpoint them. They were muffled, and unlike all the other times she had used this particular skill, the tingle she got when another Slayer was near, didn't get stronger or fade away as she drew closer or further from them. It was like they were here and not here all at once. Here in this city, it was like the whole city and all its residents were on the same frequency, had that same exact constant low hum.

It baffled the shit out of Faith, if she hadn't already known it wasn't, she would have thought this city resided on top of a hellmouth. Sunnydale and Cleveland were the only other two places she had ever felt anything like this, they had that low constant hum, right up until the shit had hit the fan.

Over the course of the years since the destruction of Sunnydale Faith had learned how to hone this skill, this Slayer and demon radar so to speak. She had learned how to narrow down and distinguish between the Slayers and everything else supernatural that made her skin hum. Though nothing and no one made her skin hum, sing like Buffy did and she doubted that would ever change.

After Willow had done the spell with the scythe to make all the potentials into full blown Slayers, Faith had felt them, each and every one of them. She felt connected to them in a way she had never felt connected to anything or anyone before. And it seemed that her own power had grown as if they were feeding her, making her stronger, quicker, tougher, and even heal faster.

Those few brief minutes that Faith had held the scythe after Buffy had gone down during their final fight with The First; the power that had flowed to her from the other Slayers had almost brought her to her knees.

This heightened power didn't mean that she couldn't get hurt, or that she didn't still bleed, because she did. That had been proven time and again, it was more like it didn't matter when it did. Her body now shifted into overdrive and would not stop; her level of power staying the same, until the fight was over and she was either down for the count or on the winning end, and then the pain would finally come screaming at her with a vengeance.

She had discussed it with Giles and they had decided to keep it to themselves. He had made inquiries in a way that it appeared he was asking out of his curiosity as a Watcher and nothing else. As far as they knew, the other Slayers could sense each other, but not to the extent that she could. As for Faith's extra power, that feeling of being _'fed' _by the other Slayers, it seemed she was the only one who was getting this new perk, not Buffy, and not any of the other Slayers. Giles had theorized that maybe it was because the Slayer line ran through her that she was the only one that would have this extra power and strength.

After Giles had returned to the Scooby Gang fold they had never discussed it again. As far as she knew Giles hadn't told anyone else about it and neither had Faith. There wasn't a point, it wouldn't change anything, and in fact it just might make things worse, most especially with Buffy.

Faith was tired and her feet hurt, it was time to call it a day. She wanted a beer, and she knew where she wanted to get one, but she hadn't been back to the Dal since that morning and she had no intentions of ever going back. There was no point, eventually she would leave here despite the fact that she felt this city might be some place she could finally call home.

Fate though had other plans for Faith, because as she looked around to get her bearings she realized she was only a block and a half from the Dal.

She stood there at war with herself; she should just go in there. What was the worst that could happen; she actually became friends with these people? It was ridiculous that this was causing her so much stress, because if she was honest with herself, and Faith sincerely hoped that her days of lying to herself were over, she already included them on the short list of people she called friends.

She knew why she was hesitating; it scared her she had taken to them, to this city so fast and so easily. It didn't help that she knew, or rather her gut knew, the Dal, and those in it were not what they appeared to be. They weren't demons but she didn't think they were exactly human either, even if there was no solid proof to back her gut up.

As she continued to stand there, Fate, it seemed, decided to lend another helping hand, in the form of Bo. Instinctively Faith moved into the shadows when she saw Bo come tearing around the corner just a block away from her. It was habit more than anything else. Unless Bo had Slayer eyesight like she did it was highly unlikely that she would be able to recognize Faith from that distance.

Faith could, however, make Bo out as clearly as if she were standing right in front of her. What she saw she didn't like at all. Bo was half limping, half running; blood was streaming down the side of her face, which was bruised and swollen. Someone had kicked the living shit out of Bo. And once Faith found out who that someone was, she was going to treat them to a shit-kicking all their own, Slayer style.

Just as she was about to step from the shadows, Kenzi came flying around the corner after Bo. Unlike Bo, Kenzi didn't seem to have a hair out of place, then again that might have had something to do with the bad ass sword she was carrying with her. So she waited to see if they would turn into the alley towards the Dal or if they would head in another direction.

Faith stepped out of the shadows; it looked like she was going to get her beer after all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x

"Speed dial?"

"No, it's not that bad." Bo grimaced when her lip split open again. She scanned the bar, looking for anyone that would be willing to help her out with a little chi donation.

Bo knew she didn't have to ask, they didn't even have to be willing, she could make them willing. But that wasn't her style, that wasn't her, at least not anymore, now that she knew what she was and she hoped it never would be again. She never wanted to be that person again, sure she used her touch to get humans and Fae, to tell her things, but taking someone's chi was too personal, too intimate for her to ever consider taking it without consent. To her that would be tantamount to taking someone sexually against their will.

She spotted Sheri, the Selkie whose pelt she had saved over by the pool table.

_Lucky me!_ Bo thought to herself as she made her way over, "Hey Sheri."

Sheri turned around, "Ouch," she reached out and lightly touched the cut on Bo's lip.

"Wanna help a girl out?"

Sheri didn't answer Bo. Instead she grabbed Bo's hand and pulled her towards the stock room. This wouldn't be the first time she had acted as Bo, _'healer'_. They never actually had sex, nor would they ever, they were just friends and both wanted to keep it that way. But Sheri wasn't opposed to helping out Bo, after all she had saved her skin, quite literally in fact, and besides what was a little chi between friends after all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x

"Nice sword."

_Shit, shit, shit_, was all Kenzi could think when she heard that raspy voice. She swung around on her barstool to face Faith; evasiveness she decided was her best course of action.

"Girl, where've you been?" Kenzi threw herself at Faith, grabbing her up in a tight hug, "I've missed you!"

Faith tensed up, it wasn't very often that she was on the receiving end of any kind of affectionate gestures. Usually when people threw themselves at her it was for one of two things, either they were trying to get her into bed or they were trying to kick her ass and she knew Kenzi wasn't trying to do either. This was new, but she had to admit that it didn't feel half bad at all, so there was only one thing she could do and that was hug Kenzi back.

Kenzi studied Faith after she let her go, she really had missed her. It was odd, but true.

"You here all alone?"

"Dude, cheesiest come on line ever," Kenzi swung around, leaning back against the bar, and watched Faith as she scanned the crowd in the Dal. "Strictly dickly here…"

If Faith was seeing any of the Fae that couldn't pass for exactly human, Kenzi could see no indication of it. There were quite a few, though none overtly obvious. There were a few with ears that were just a little bit too pointy, another with eyes that were a little too violet, they were just small things, features that could pass a casual inspection, but a closer one, well, that would be a another story altogether.

"Hundred percent sure about that Kenzi?" Faith was teasing her, she was a flirt, it was her nature and it always would be.

"Yep, but if I ever change my mind, you'll be the first one I text with a 911 booty call."

"I think I'm heartbroken, I thought I'd be your first." Bo started laughing at the disturbed look that crossed Kenzi face at her comment.

Then Bo truly lost it when Faith yelled down the bar, "Trick we need a Brillo Pad!"

It was during the laughing fit that Faith subtly checked Bo out from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. There wasn't a scratch on her, not even a teeny-tiny one. She knew what she saw, and Faith knew that wasn't possible. Could it be that Bo was a Slayer too? But even with her extra juiced up accelerated healing Faith knew she wouldn't have healed that fast. So if she wasn't a Slayer, what exactly was Bo? Or maybe it was some kind of magic, like the kind Willow used in emergencies to heal some of the Slayers until they could get them safely to the academy's medical center.

Whatever it was, Faith was determined to find out, maybe whatever was going on here had something to do with why she couldn't find the rogue Slayers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x

"I know this isn't the best neighborhood, but I'm thinking a sword is a bit over the top."

"It's a present for Trick, goes with the whole early Tolkien motif he's got in here," Bo slid the sword towards Trick.

"Why thank you much, next round is on me." Trick wanted to laugh at the glare Kenzi was throwing at Bo.

"BO!" Kenzi was going to kill her! That was her favorite sword, it had taken forever to find one she was comfortable with and could handle just as good, if not better than Bo.

"What?"

"I wanted to give it to him," she grumbled. Kenzi could only hope Trick gave the sword back to her. There were apparently no take-backs when one gave a present in the Fae world. Something to do with a curse or something, she didn't quite remember. Freakin Fae and all their dumbass rules!

"I'm guessing since you're still in town that you've had no luck finding your missing persons, um peoples..." Bo moved around Faith, and sat down on the barstool next to Kenzi, hoping that would be far enough.

The urge was back and she had to fight the overpowering desire to reach out and touch Faith. She wanted to know what it was like to touch someone that seemed to burn with the same scorching hunger that she did. It was freaking her out a little, she was in love with Lauren, she shouldn't be feeling this way.

She understood it was her nature, she was a Succubus, she thrived on sexual chi, on sex itself, she flourished and grew strong from it. But this urge, this itch, yes she needed to quench it when she was hungry, but the thing was, right now she was as far from that type of _hungry_ as she could possibly get, this was a hunger of a whole new kind.

If it wasn't for Lauren, she would have given into the feelings. But if Lauren came back to her, to be with her, Bo wanted to be able to tell her that the only times since she had left she had been with anyone in a sexual way was when it was absolutely necessary in order for her to live, to survive, to satiate the hunger that was her very life-force. And she had been lucky since Lauren had been gone; she could still count on one hand the times she had been driven that far.

"And you'd be right, the missing are still of the missing."

"The offer to help still stands."

"You know Kenzi, I think I just might take you up on that offer," Faith stood up, beer and shot in hand, "But it's after office hours, how bout we just shoot a few games and have some fun."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter – 5

Faith doubled checked the address on the card Bo had given her. This definitely was the place. It was an interesting choice, she'd give them that. She knocked on the door, being careful not to knock too hard, afraid she might inadvertently break it if she did.

"COME IN!"

"Kenzi," Faith started as she came through the door, "…you might wanna ask who it is first, for all you know you could have just invited in a va-m-um-murderer." That slip was too close for comfort; Faith could only hope Kenzi had missed it.

"Wouldn't be the first time," and that just fell out of her mouth without a second thought. Bad mouth! "**BO, FAITH'S HERE!**"

"I think they heard you in France." Bo laughed, as she walked into the room in just her silk robe. She was just getting ready to get dressed when she heard Faith's voice downstairs, followed by Kenzi's yell. Kenzi was right they really did need better walls.

Bo didn't miss the way Faith's eyes were lazily traveling over her body. Against her will her eyes made the same lazy inspection of Faith, lightweight black leather biker jacket, skin tight black leather pants, semi-sheer black gauze shirt, that showed just enough to have Bo's imagination take off for a wild ride.

"Bo, meet pot and kettle." Kenzi rolled her eyes up in the direction of Bo's bedroom.

Bo just shook her head, Kenzi was too much sometimes. She poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Faith, "Help yourself to cream and sugar."

"Thanks." Faith looked around curiously; it wasn't as bad as she first thought, some solid walls and windows would have been nice. Then again, the Powers knew she had stayed in places a lot worse than this. "Have you guys lived here long?"

"I lived here first, two years ago Kenzi just moved herself in the morning after I picked her up at the bar I was working at."

"Wait I thought you two were just…"

"Friends, yes we're just friends!" Kenzi threw her hands up in one of her dramatic gestures.

"So if you two didn't get all wriggly together and then decide to go the U-Haul route the next day, how did you end up living together?"

"And now I have those bad visuals running around in my head again. There's gonna be a Brillo shortage soon."

"Well if you think about it, I actually did pick you up that night two years ago, though it was in the elevator, and not in the bar."

"Can't wait to hear this story," Faith plopped down on the couch next to Kenzi.

"Two years ago I was working as a bartender at hotel in a nicer part of town. There was this guy he was kind of slimy..."

"You can say that again." Kenzi gave Bo a grateful look.

"Anyway, I served him a few drinks, and not much later I noticed him as he was leaving, he looked like he was in a hurry, and I don't know why, maybe it was the self-satisfied smug look or the fact he gave me the creeps, but I knew something wasn't right. So I followed him. I caught up with him on the elevator, and one look at Kenzi and I knew he'd roofied her drink, so I kis..."

"Kicked his ass, Bo knocked that dickwad right out," Kenzi interrupted, "he went down for the count and wasn't gonna be getting up any time soon." Big, big understatement, truth was he was never going to get up again; Bo had chi-kissed the life right out of him. For that, Kenzi was grateful, she doubted she was his first and she knew she wouldn't have been his last.

"Then Kenzi passed out, and honestly I was going to leave her there, I had enough going on in my life, I didn't need any more trouble. But for some reason I couldn't, so I picked her up, brought her home with me and then no matter what I did I couldn't get rid of her."

"And lucky for you, you didn't."

That was the plain truth, if Kenzi hadn't stuck with her, more than likely Bo would have been dead or worse an even bigger monster then she had thought she was back then. Bo had saved Kenzi that night at the hotel and Kenzi had returned the favor the very next day at the warehouse. But it was a story they couldn't share with Faith, or at least that's what they thought.

"And on that note I'm going to get dressed. Oh and before I forget, welcome to our home which we affectionately call the Clubhouse." Bo was very aware of the soulful chocolate colored eyes that followed her out of the room.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"You suck at this."

"Yeah well staking vamps in a game is a lot different than in real…" Oh shit! Her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own. It was freaking her out; she never had a problem watching what she said before. Why was it so easy for her to let her guard down around Kenzi, Trick and Bo?

Real what? Real life? Kenzi thought to herself, she bit her tongue to keep from asking, the downright confused, freaked out look on Faith's face making the decision for her. It was apparent to Kenzi that Faith wasn't completely unaware of the things that were not quite of the human persuasion. There had been enough stumbling over words, in the few stories Faith had shared with her the two times Kenzi had hung out with Faith that inevitably led Kenzi to that conclusion.

She wondered why Faith was hiding that fact from them and realized just how ridiculous that thought was. Who would believe her if she said, _'oh hey did you know that all those things you read about in horror stories, like Banshees, Vampires, Shifters, Succubus, Brownies, just to name a few are all real…_ Yeah, that would go over well and it would be welcome to your new home, hope you like the padded walls and the white jacket that buckles in the back. Make yourself comfortable, you might be here a while!

Kenzi didn't think she'd be telling anyone about that either. What reason would Faith tell them? The reality was they all really didn't know each other that well or that long. Hell, she hadn't been able to tell Nate about it, and she had been in love with him.

Kenzi decided to let Faith off easy, her gut was telling her that eventually all their secrets would be laid out on the table, and if she pushed too hard Faith would run, much in the same way Bo had tried to run when she and Kenzi first met. Only with Faith, Kenzi knew she would run and never look back and that would be the last they would ever see of her. And Kenzi really didn't want that to happen.

"Next time we'll play _Spongebob Square Pants, _might be more your speed."

Faith was saved from answering Kenzi by the reappearance of Bo, dressed and ready to go. Her first thought was, _fuck she's hot! _Tight black pants that clung to shapely long legs, painted on black low cut V-neck tee that made Faith's fingers itch with the need to just peel it off Bo and see the rest of what was hidden underneath.

Faith's thoughts screeched to a grinding halt when her eyes took a second trip over those long legs and it registered in her lust addled brain what Bo was wearing that wasn't tight black pants. She blinked her eyes a few times rapidly to make sure she was awake and not dreaming, cause for the life of her she had to dreaming. Why the hell else would Bo look like she was dressed to go to war?

Bo had been too busy thinking many, many carnal thoughts about Faith, and had dressed like she normally did when she and Kenzi were going out on a case. Her hunting knife, strapped to her right leg, pistol-crossbow slung across her back over her coat, sword dangling from her left hand, and various other weapons hidden in the pockets of her coat. Shit, filtered through her brain at the way Faith was staring at her with both hunger and confusion, and was that… yes… yes it was… just a touch of amusement.

"Thinking you might be a little overdressed, pumpkin." Kenzi gave Bo an amused look of her own. She had decided quickly it would be better not to ignore the armed and dangerous Succubus in the room.

"Considering where we're going, better safe than sorry," It was lame, but what the hell else was she going to say? Obviously there was no way to hide the fact that she was armed to the teeth and not with anything that would perhaps be considered normal. Like say mace or a switchblade.

"Shit, I feel positively naked," Faith whipped out a pair of Sai's.

Bo just tipped her head in acknowledgement at Faith, a slight half smile playing around her mouth.

"So which of you is Joe and which is Jane, as in GI?"

"You decide Malibu Barbie."

And it was as easy as that, an unspoken covenant. They all knew the others had unsaid truths. They all knew the other was more than they appeared and they all knew it was okay for now to let the silence and the secrets remain.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter – 6**

Over the next ten days the three women were all but inseparable. They spent from morning until night together, only separating when Faith went back to wherever it was that she was staying to sleep. She hadn't volunteered where she was crashing and neither Bo nor Kenzi had asked. The unspoken covenant remained unbroken. The secrets they decided would be told in their own time, in their own way.

They tactfully ignored the slight slips, the comments that didn't quite make sense. The fact that all three of them knew their way around weapons that ninety-nine percent of the population wouldn't have any idea what they were called, let alone how to use them.

They continued to track down the five missing women, getting a hint of them here and there. But they were always ten steps behind. Bo and Kenzi had managed to get more information on the missing women then Faith had in all the time she had been searching for them alone.

It seemed as if the missing women were leading them around by the nose on purpose. Leaving just enough hints of where they had been and where they were going. Making the three friends and they had become just that, run around on a merry goose chase. They were being toyed with and Faith, Bo and Kenzi, didn't like it one bit. In fact, it was pissing them all right the fuck off.

All their time however wasn't just spent on tracking down the rogue Slayers. They spent time at the Dal with Trick, just shooting the breeze, drinking a few and playing pool. Hanging out at the Clubhouse, eating take out and getting their butts kicked up and down the block and even sideways by Kenzi who it seemed was the ruling queen of just about every video game ever made.

And from the convoluted stories made up of missing pieces and not quite whole truths all three learned quite a bit about each other.

Bits and pieces of their stories came out, from Dyson, to Nate, to Lauren. To some hot blond chick whose name Faith refused to supply, to Angel, to Giles and even the Mayor. All the important pieces were there in the interwoven spoken words and the silences in-between. The pieces that told the story of who they were, who they had been and who they wanted to be.

In silent agreement, both Bo and Faith chose to ignore the white elephant between them called lust. The hunger, the thirst, the desire was there. Burning just as hot as a volcano about to erupt, but for now they were letting sleeping dogs lie. Faith out of respect for what Bo felt for Lauren, she didn't want to add confusion to an already messed up situation. Bo out of respect for what she had gleaned Faith felt for the no-name blonde. And what little Bo did know about Faith and no-name blonde's story, she knew it was far more messed up and riddled with obstacles than hers, Dyson and Lauren's all together.

The fierce loyalty and trust that was between Bo and Kenzi amazed Faith to no end. But not quite as much as it amazed her that, that loyalty now seemed to extend to her as well and she returned it ten-fold. They might not know all the secrets each kept, but they knew exactly what they needed to know about each other and for them it was enough.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been a long day for all of them; the temperature had risen up into triple digits. They had chased one clue after another and had ended up at a dead end. Faith was chugging down a large glass of water as she watched Kenzi and Bo's silent interaction. There was something they weren't telling her, or at least Bo wasn't telling her. Something to do with the missing Slayers, something Bo had found out from one of her contacts.

"I'm wet…" Bo ignored Kenzi's snicker, "I'm gonna change."

As if on cue a few seconds later Kenzi stood up and announced, "Think I'm gonna change too, be right back Faith."

Faith waited until she was sure Kenzi was completely upstairs and then moved to the bottom of the steps to listen.

_"What's with all the cloak and dagger Bo?"_

_"John told me there are five women holed up in an abandoned building on Commercial Street said it looked like they're planning on staying a while."_

_"Are they…"_

_"No, but he said there's something not quite right about them, but he didn't know what. I'm gonna go check it out."_

_"Did you forget Trick and Faith are coming here for dinner and video games?"_

_"Shit! I'll go later then after they leave."_

_"Maybe we should tell…"_

_"We can't, not until… not until we see what we're up against, then tomorrow… tomorrow we'll tell her everything."_

_"It's about time, not for nothing, but I know we can trust her."_

_"I know Kenzi."_

_"How do you think she'll handle it?"_

_"Better than you."_

_"Please I was as cool as a cuc'."_

_"You freaked out."_

_"Did not."_

_"Did too."_

_"Did not… okay I did, but just a little."_

Faith moved back over to the counter in the kitchen. She had heard all she needed to hear. Bo and Kenzi might not know what was _'different'_ about these women, but she did. There was no way she was going to let them go check it out, it would be too dangerous. Furthermore there wasn't any way she was letting them walk in without knowing the score. She promised herself come what may, that tomorrow she would tell them everything.

And it was funny, but not for one second did Faith's trust or loyalty waver for the two women. They had secrets and she did too. They all kept them thinking it was to protect each other, but in their hearts they knew they were protecting themselves as well.

Kenzi flopped right down on the couch when she came back downstairs, "Pre-game warm up? I'll even spot you some points"

"Nah, feeling grungy gonna go grab a shower and a quick nap. I'll be back around eight, eight-thirtyish."

"You're no fun." Kenzi was looking forward to kicking all their butts tonight, even better she didn't need to be Fae to do it.

"I smell like a dead cat, where's the fun in that?"

"More like a dead litter of cats." Bo grinned at Faith. Actually she didn't smell too pretty herself, so really she had no room to talk.

"Hey Bo…"

"Yes Faith…"

"Meet Pot and Kettle."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Even though the sun had set it was still hot, sticky and humid. The heat rose up off the sidewalk in waves. The air was stagnant with the smell of unwashed bodies, rotting garbage and something foul that Faith couldn't name. The neighborhood was the worst she had been to since she had come to the city.

The abandoned industrial warehouse she was in front of made Kenzi and Bo's house look like Gracie Mansion. Calling it seedy, would be an understatement of epic proportions.

Faith made her way around the side of the building looking for a way in that wouldn't announce her presence to the rogue Slayers. Bingo! Fire escape!

She climbed up the fire escape and onto the roof. She made her way over to the roof door and tried the handle, it was locked. She tried twisting it, but it wasn't going to snap easily. She scanned the roof, there had to be another way in that would let her keep the element of surprise. She found it on the other side of the roof; a skylight had been left open.

She eased herself over the edge and dropped down onto one of the exposed ceiling beams that ran the length of the large building. It was then the smell hit her, blood and lots of it. Silently she made her way along towards the low voices on the other side of the building. Her eyes adjusting to the darkness, she spotted a room, which she assumed at one point was probably the manager's office, a few hundred yards from her. It was from there the voices were coming.

There was something in the tone of their voices. Something in the sound of their laughter, that sent a foreboding chill down her spine.

Faith's gut was twitching. She didn't want to think about it, but inside she knew these missing Slayers had passed the point of going a little crazy with their newfound Slayer power.

They were beyond just running rampant. Taking what they wanted, knocking a few heads around, and reveling in the power. Beyond thinking they were above the law, above everyone and everything.

They were drowning in the power. They wanted more of it and they had crossed the line to get it.

As the old saying went; '_Absolute power corrupts, absolutely'_ and Faith knew that more intimately than most, after all for a time she had lived that cliché.

When two of them walked out of the office Faith felt her whole world crash around her. They hadn't just crossed the line they had obliterated it in a way that not even Faith at her worst had. Suddenly it made sense why it was she couldn't distinguish them within the constant low hum of all things supernatural. They weren't just Slayers anymore, they were, but they were also the one thing the Slayer had been created to destroy.

Maria and Christine!

**_NO!_**Better not to remember their names. Better not to remember their smiles. Better not to remember that they had slipped through her fingers at the academy, when they had called her in to help, to give them the,_ learn by my mistakes routine_. She had thought they were just feeling their oats a little so to speak and had told Buffy and Willow to take a chill pill, things would work themselves out.

How could she have been so wrong?

How had she missed it?

She, above anyone else who had heard that same siren's call, felt that same seductive power of the Slayer. That same arrogance that she was above everyone that she could do whatever she wanted and screw everyone else.

_How the fuck could she have been so wrong?_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_File it away, stick it in that little black box and shove it down into that dark place for later.._. There was nothing she could do about it now. She could beat herself up bloody later, but now she had a job to do. She couldn't save them, but she could make damn sure they did no harm to anyone else. With those thoughts Faith took a back seat and let** The Slayer **take the wheel.

She threw two stakes with deadly accuracy. Then as graceful as a gymnast she somersaulted off the ceiling beam, silently landing behind the two Slayer-vamps and caught the two stakes from amid the rain of dust before they could hit the floor.

With their deaths Faith swore she could feel the Slayer essence that was within them return to her. There was no time to ponder that now; there were still three more Slayer-vamps in the office. She stepped into the room. They thought they knew arrogance, but they had never met this Faith.

Gina, Lisa, and Karen, **_no names_**_, _her head screamed again, but Faith knew that was impossible. She mourned the loss of these young women.

Gina turned towards Faith. She dropped the woman she had been feeding on dismissively on the floor like she was worth nothing more than the dirt under her feet. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to show up to dinner uninvited Faith?"

"Who are you Miss Manners?" Faith moved a little to her right, the other two Slayer vamps countering her. She took a quick glance at the woman on the floor and her world tilted.

**_Bo!_** Goddamn it, she was going to kill her once they got out of here. At least she was still breathing, it was shallow but she was still alive. Faith watched with a little bit of horror as blood pooled around and under Bo from the wounds in her neck, side and thigh. _Fuck!_

"I always did like your sarcastic humor. Tell me, have you enjoyed chasing your tail these past months? Cause we sure had fun doing it."

"Loads, now cut the shit," Faith inched closer to Bo, who was watching her.

"Don't you even want to know how first?"

"Honestly, I could give two fucks." She moved a little again.

"Well, that's just rude."

"Politeness… what can I say, not one of my many virtues."

"I'll give you a hint anyway. It wasn't an accident and we're not the only ones."

Faith's mind spun out of control, they had chosen this. They had elected to become these abominations. She didn't want to believe it; she couldn't.

"Our own little army, getting bigger every day," Gina's eyes glittered as she observed Faith inch closer to the woman at her feet.

She knew what Faith was doing. She would have done the same thing when she was playing the good little Slayer. But that had gotten boring fast. The power that's all there was. She and the others had wanted more and when it was offered to them they took it no questions asked. Gina waited for Faith to move a little closer to her _'dinner'_ on the floor and decided she'd give her a hand. "Here, let me help you."

In a move, with speed and strength that left Faith a little bit shaken, Gina punted Bo right into Faith. Faith thanks to her Slayer reflexes was able to catch Bo. They both went flying backwards into an old metal desk; then they and the desk went sliding across the floor.

"Bo?" Faith looked down at the woman cradled in her arms, when they finally stopped their unplanned trip across the room.

"Joe."

A small snort of laughter escaped Faith at Bo's use of the nickname Kenzi had given her. "Hey Jane, where's Barbie?"

"Hangin with Ken, at the Clubhouse."

Faith carefully put Bo on the ground next to her, "I'll be back."

"Okay Arnie," Bo smiled, actually grimaced. She was hurt and pretty badly too. Hell, it didn't mean she had to lose her sense of humor though.

"Aren't you two sweet, just like her. Did I tell you she tastes like ripe delicious strawberries?"

What was it about vampires, the ones you wanted to chat never did and the ones you didn't always did. Just one of life's little mysteries, Faith supposed. Honestly though, she didn't give a shit what Gina had to say. "You know what? You watched too many campy vampire movies."

Faith jumped up to her feet and rushed Gina before she had a chance to react. At the same time with a flick of her wrist she sent a stake flying at Karen. It was off by a hair, damn! Her momentum sent her and Gina tumbling to the floor. Faith let loose with a right cross that would have broken a regular vampire's jaw into pieces, but didn't even dislocate Gina's. It was then Faith knew she was in trouble.

Faith was picked up and tossed right through the wall of the office. She came down hard on her back; pieces of broken wood and glass embedding into her jacket and clear through to her skin. They were on her before she could get up. Faith found herself on the receiving end of a vicious beating the likes of which she had never felt before, not even from The Beast.

The punches and kicks came at her from all directions, hard, fast and without mercy, as their maniacal laughter rang in her ears. They batted her between them flipping her from her back to her front over and over again. The beating seemed to go on forever, they were ruthless and Faith knew it wouldn't be long until she passed out.

"I believe this is yours," Karen used all her might as she slammed the stake into Faith's shoulder. The stake plunging through her leather jacket and her muscles until the tip finally pierced through the other side.

A chorus of 'nice' filtered to Faith as they stopped to high five each other. She scrambled away from them, rising up to shaky feet. She was going to be one big black and blue if she survived this and at this point Faith wasn't sure that was a given.

They were faster and stronger than her. They had the power not just of the Slayer, but of the vampire as well. Screw it; she wouldn't make it easy for them. She slammed herself back against the wall until the stake poked through far enough so that she could grab it and rip it out of her body.

Out of the corner of her eye Faith saw Bo struggle up to her feet. Bo staggered a little then righted herself. It was with wide eyed amazement that Faith watched as Bo launched herself at the three Slayers turned vamps. Bo, to Faith's astonishment, didn't go down easily. She staggered the Slayers turned vamps with a few well-placed kicks and punches. In the end though, Lisa was too strong for her and once again Bo found herself sailing in the direction of Faith. Only this time she wasn't as lucky. This time it was the cement wall that caught her.

"Ladies, we could do this the easy way, you know," Gina offered.

The implication of Gina's offer wasn't lost on Faith. They weren't planning on killing her; they were planning on turning her. It was why they hadn't just killed her outright and instead had played with her as if she were their personal soccer ball. The thought of herself as a vampire terrified her beyond words. Faith knew without a doubt if they turned her she would make Angelus look like a harmless kitten compared to her.

Faith swore to herself in that minute that she would plunge her own Sai through her heart before she'd let that happen. But before that she would plunge the other one through Bo's, because she couldn't let them turn Bo. She wouldn't let it happen.

"Where would the fun be in that?" Faith took a deep breath, centered herself, calmed her mind and that's when she felt them. Felt the Slayer in each of the three horrors standing in front of her. Felt that essence reaching out towards her, and she opened herself to it and to all the other Slayers around the world and she let them _feed_ her.

Faith felt their power. All the Slayers, every one of them, flow through her. They nourished her, bringing new life to every cell in her body. She felt like she could move mountains, could move the very heavens themselves. She couldn't even imagine what it would feel like if she opened herself to this with the Scythe in her hands.

With the power came knowledge. She had been born for this. Born with this essence, it was a part of her like her genes, her DNA, and there was no need for her to ever take a back seat again. Faith's place, not _The Slayer,_ was and always would be in the driver's seat.

"Girl after my own un-beating heart, and you will be ours, it's your fate, your destiny."

"Again with the bad movie vamp lines, why don't you do us all a favor and shut the fuck up!" Faith whirled towards Karen, "And, I think you should keep this, after all I did give it to you, think of it as a present…" The bloody stake was a blur as it flew from her fingers, and found its mark with a satisfying poof. "Now… let's dance…"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter – 7**

She defeated the two remaining Slayer-vamps without even breaking a sweat. It was almost ridiculous how easy it was. But she didn't take the time to contemplate her newfound power, instead she ran straight for Bo.

Bo had watched the short fight in utter awe. She didn't even have a chance to get back into the fight; it was already over by the time she had risen up on unsteady legs. The speed, the strength, the raw power that was Faith left Bo gaping open-mouthed like the village-Fae-idiot as Kenzi would have said. Something… something had changed about Faith. Not in a bad way, it was almost like Bo had witnessed Faith coming into her full power. Though that thought was ridiculous, whatever Faith was she had been it long before today, of that much Bo was certain. Regardless, something about Faith had changed, and of that Bo was certain of too.

"What are you?"

"Sore, bloody, tired, in a bit of pain from the stake through the shoulder thing, and getting the shit kicked out of me redneck style. Not to mention hungry and horny," that last part just slipped out without Faith's permission. But screw it, it was true.

"I feel your pain, all of it," and boy did Bo ever, most especially the last part. "You're not exactly human, are you?"

"No. But then neither are you." Faith caught Bo as she swayed a little on her feet. "So, you're…"

"A Succubus, and you're…"

"The Slayer."

And just as easy as that, the secrets were taken from the dark, brought into the light and laid out upon the table.

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Faith supported Bo with an arm around her waist as they made their way out of the building. She had been wracking her brains trying to remember exactly what a Succubus was, and abruptly she remembered what she had read in one of Giles' books.

"Wait, you're a demon who _sleeps, sleeps_ with sleeping men?" When did she suddenly become twelve and get scared of saying the word sex?

Bo burst out laughing, and decided quickly laughing wasn't a good idea; it just made the knife wound in her side hurt more. "Not a demon, I'm Fae. Whatever you read forget it, and my car is around back."

"Fae, like in fairies, nymphs, goblins, gnomes and leprechauns?"

"Yes, yes, yes, don't know, and maybe." Bo took a deep breath. Her hunger was pressing hard against her and it was taking almost all her energy to keep it at bay, especially being this close to Faith. If she had thought Faith's sexual chi was burning hot before, it was now off the charts and had to come close to, if not equal to Bo's own.

"Guessing I should forget what I read about them too. So you…" Faith let the question hang; she knew Bo would know what she was asking.

"I feed off people's chi in order to survive. Fae or human, either works. But to heal, I need more than…" Bo stumbled against Faith. The knife wound in her leg was still bleeding and throbbing like a son-of-a-bitch. Apparently her leg had decided it wasn't happy at the thought of supporting her.

Those things in the warehouse had given Bo back her hunting knife in very painful and creative ways. It wasn't until she had tried to take their chi that she realized the vampires were not like Fae vampires. Unlike Fae, those bitches in the warehouse had been dead. And there was no chi, no life force in the dead and until Faith had shown up, Bo was pretty sure she would be the next dead thing in there.

"Easy there, I've got ya, we're almost at the car." Faith knew Bo wouldn't like it if she picked her up and carried her any more then she would have if the situation were reversed. It was a tough girl thing. If you weren't unconscious, weren't dead or if your legs weren't broken then you were walking out under your own steam. No matter how long it took.

"Could use a chi energy drink 'bout now."

Faith stopped walking, she moved so she was facing Bo. She stared into Bo's eyes. Despite that there were still things she didn't know about Bo, about the type of Fae she was or exactly how Bo fed; she knew she could trust her. Instinctively knew she'd be safe in Bo's hands.

"One Slayer flavored chi energy drink coming up." She meant it to be light and funny, but that had just sounded plain stupid. Sometimes she was the ultimate dumb-ass. She smirked at Bo, who smirked back. "So, um, how does this…"

"Easier if I show you…" Bo leaned into Faith and gently pressed her lips against hers. Instantly the hunger made itself known and Bo struggled against it. Struggled not to take the life right out of Faith, she wasn't sure if she could stop. She should have known better than to kiss Faith in the state she was in, she didn't know enough about what a Slayer was… is… to take that chance. For the first time in two years Bo was terrified she might actually kill someone.

Then Faith broke their kiss easily, something even Dyson had to struggle to do and he was Fae. Once again, Bo found herself staring at Faith with something akin to awe. Now more than ever she desperately needed to get home and make a 911 booty call. The short, almost chaste kiss had energized her, but it hadn't healed her and it left her hungry at a level she had never felt before.

Wow, was the only word Faith could think. As clichéd as it was, her socks had just been knocked off by their very innocent kiss. That short kiss had taken her after slaying hungry and horny to a whole new playing field. She had felt the energy that Bo was taking from her acutely and she had also felt the energy she was taking from Bo. It was feeding her as well, just like how the Slayers chi fed her. It intrigued her, amongst other things and it scared her at the same time. But it wouldn't stop her from going there again.

"Gonna go with the chi is sexual chi, not just every day, regular chi."

Bo gave Faith a sheepish look. "Sorry?" They began walking towards the car again, "And how the hell did you stop me and so easily? Cause even Dyson had a hard time stopping me and he's Fae."

"Don't know… what can I say, I have mad skills. And no need for sorry, don't hear me complaining do ya?" Faith opened the door to the car for Bo and helped her in. "For now, let's just get you home Tinkerbell."

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"Bo?" Kenzi asked, not bothering to turn around when she heard the front door open. She was too busy annihilating Trick at _Fight Night, Round 4_.

"Yeah, and…"

"Thank the gods," Trick cut Bo off, "I'm tired of getting my ass kicked by a…"

"Human?" Faith finished for him, though only Kenzi heard her.

Kenzi's head whipped around and she dropped her controller. For the first time ever, Trick won a game, and with a KO no less. His joy was cut short when Faith deposited Bo on the couch with him.

"Holy shit, what the hell happened?" Kenzi ran for the kitchen. She grabbed the first aid kit and her phone. The first aid kit was for Faith who looked like she had gone a few rounds with Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Leon Spinx and Muhammad Ali all at once. The cell phone and speed dial number seven was for Bo.

"We need to get you both to the hospital." Trick stood up to face both Bo and Faith, in full scale panic mode.

"No Trick we don't. Don't think they can help Bo, and I'll be fine in a day or two."

"You're hurt, you're not thinking straight Faith, you both need to go to a hospital now!"

"Let's cut the bullshit, the cat has left the bag. I know Bo's Fae, and I know you are too, and while I'm not exactly sure what I am, we all know I'm not one hundred percent human."

To prove her point Faith pulled out one of her Sais and made a light gash in the palm of her hand. She took a deep breath and _'fed'_ from the essence of all the Slayers around the world. She even fed a little from the three people in the house with her, or so it felt that way. They all watched in wonder, even Faith who hadn't been sure if it would actually work, as the slash in her palm stopped bleeding and slowly began to close.

Once again Bo found herself staring at Faith in something akin to awe, only this time she wasn't alone, Kenzi and Trick were right there with her. And like Bo, both seemed to sense that something had changed about Faith, though they too couldn't say what, just that it had.

"Nice parlor trick, Alice, and by the way welcome to Fae-Wonderland." Kenzi pushed Faith down on the couch next to Bo. She motioned for Faith to take off her jacket; it seemed someone had tried to skewer her. She handed her phone to Bo, "Speed dial seven."

"Speed dial seven?" Faith asked and then hissed at Kenzi. Partly in anger as she ripped one of her favorite shirts to expose the gaping wound from the stake, but mostly in pain as she poured hydrogen peroxide over it.

"911 take-out booty call."

"But the chi…"

"Helped me, but it won't heal me, I need more than just chi."

Bo still hadn't dialed the 'take-out' limo service. Kenzi was about to take the phone from her and do it herself, then she saw the look that passed between Faith and Bo.

Kenzi, being Kenzi, just couldn't resist, "Faith, ever hear the song _Sexual Healing_? You could say that's Bo's personal anthem, literally."

Then it all clicked into place, and Faith realized that somewhere in the back of her mind she had already known what it would take for Bo to heal completely. She had a feeling that this had been inevitable since the moment she and Bo had knocked into each other at the front door of the Dal.

What it meant, what it could mean, she had no idea. But for the first time in her life Faith wanted to experience what it was like to be with someone she cared about and cared about her in return. Someone she trusted and someone she felt absolutely safe with. Faith took the phone from Bo, and looked her straight in the eyes, "No need for take-out tonight."

"And that'd be our queue to leave Gramps." Kenzi snatched her phone back from Faith and started humming _Sexual Healing_ under her breath. It was a good thing looks couldn't kill, because the one Faith was giving her surely would have. She grabbed Trick's hand and started pulling him towards the door as Faith leaned towards Bo.

Trick paused at the front door and turned around. He saw Faith and Bo draw apart. In the brief second right after they broke their kiss, he saw the chi that flowed between them. Not just chi flowing to Bo from Faith, but chi that flowed from Bo to Faith. He realized that it was Faith, not Bo, who had just broken the kiss, and stopped the exchange of chi. If Trick hadn't been sure it was Faith who stopped the exchange of chi, he was when their softly spoken exchange drifted to him.

"How did you…"

"Like I said before, I got mad skills. And right now I really don't care how I stopped you, Tinkerbell."

Bo realized it didn't matter whether she knew what a Slayer was; twice Faith had stopped her from taking her chi. For Bo that was enough to know that no matter how hungry she might be, Faith would be able to stop her from actually harming or killing her. She felt a sort of freedom and elation she had never felt before just at the thought.

As Trick let Kenzi pull him out into the night, it was with a chuckle at Bo's new nickname and the most insane, ridiculous thoughts running through his mind.

But his insane thoughts couldn't be right… could they?

It was only a myth after all… wasn't it?


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter - 8**

As soon as Bo heard the front door close, she all but launched herself at Faith. Where their prior two kisses had been soft, gentle, and bordering on almost innocent, this one was anything but. It was outright carnal, wet, hot, voracious, and Faith got a sneak preview of what it was going to be like to be with Bo when she was hungry. Faith purred inside, for once she wouldn't have to hold back.

She stood up, taking Bo with her with ease. The gaping wound in her shoulder all but forgotten. If she hadn't been so focused on Bo, Faith would have noticed that it was already healing and would be all but gone come morning. She almost stumbled when Bo wrapped her legs around her and she was surrounded by all that erotic heat. The sexual chi that was flowing between them took her arousal to a peak she hadn't known existed before. She took the stairs two at a time and paused at the top.

"Where's the shower?" It almost hurt to break that deliciously sensuous kiss.

"Shower?" Bed, floor, wall, shower, Bo really didn't care. Her need was so fierce at this point it was coming close to being painful and not in a good way. She pointed and then took Faith's mouth again.

As soon as she ripped the clothes from their backs, Faith dragged Bo under the hot spray of the water. She took Bo's mouth roughly, all but forcing her tongue into the other woman's mouth. Bo wasn't any shrinking violet though, she gave back as good as she got.

Despite the roughness of her kiss, Faith's hands were gentle as she slowly washed the sweat and blood from Bo's body. Her soapy hands leaving a trail of fire across Bo's skin and once she was sure that all the wounds were completely clean and the blood washed away Faith's hands began to move with a little more purpose.

"Tease…" Bo murmured lowly, "… tease later, now…" Slow and gentle would come later. Her need now was urgent, merciless and so way beyond these soft touches that it physically hurt. To make sure Faith got the point Bo bit down hard on the muscle in Faith's shoulder, and her nails scratched a line of light stripes from the nape of Faith's neck down to her ass.

Faith's whole body shuddered at Bo's touch, and her hunger rose up strong and ruthlessly. This was not the time for teasing touches, they ached, they needed, and now.

Want, take, have, Faith's old mantra rolled around in her head, and so she did. Her nails left their own trail of stripes on their journey from Bo's collarbone, over a softly rounded breast, where they stopped to toy with an unbelievably hard nipple. She thrust her leg in-between Bo's. With her free hand she pulled Bo onto her thigh and encouraged her to move upon it.

When she couldn't take it anymore, when she couldn't wait to feel with her fingers what she felt so keenly upon her thigh, Faith continued her torturous journey down Bo's body. They trailed over a flat firm stomach, through soft down hair and into a wetness that had nothing to do with the warm water raining down upon them. Faith didn't even hesitate as she slid into the tight scorching heat that was Bo's hunger.

Bo stared at Faith with eyes that started to turn a luminous blue. Her own hand, her nails scratching lightly followed the same path down Faith's body that Faith's had taken on hers. She hissed with pleasure at being surrounded by a need, a desire, a hunger that matched her own.

They plunged into each other, palms grinding into the hard pulsing pinpoint of their desire with a fierceness that an ordinary human couldn't have withstood. They both reveled in it, not having to hold back, not having to rein in their riptide of lust and hunger.

Bo reached the pinnacle first with an incoherent shout, the force of it doubling her over, as the waves of her climax washed over and over her, again and again. Faith followed her with her own incoherent shout, riding those same waves, then again, and again, it seemed their need and their hunger was insatiable.

They were forced from the shower when the water turned ice-cold. As they stepped from the tub both women knew they had barely scratched the surface of their hunger. It was going to be a long night; they were both far, far, far from sated.

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It was towards the dawn that their rough, ferocious, demanding, relentless fucking turned into something more, as their hunger was nearly slaked, but not quite satiated.

It was then Faith learned for the first time what it was like to feel slow, soft, sensuous whisper-like caresses and touches over her whole body.

It was then Faith learned for the first time what it was like to feel delicate, lavish, nips, licks, sucking from a mouth that wanted nothing more than her pleasure.

It was then Faith learned for the first time what it was like to be carefully, slowly, gently, brought to a place of yearning, need and desire and taken over the edge with an intensity, a wholeness, a sensuality of pleasure she had never felt before.

It was then Faith learned for the first time what it was like to make love, to feel safe, to feel wanted not just for what she could give or they could take, but just for herself.

And it was then Faith learned for the first time what it felt like to be touched by someone who cared for her and to touch someone she cared for in return.

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Faith was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her shirt and bra dangling from her hand with amusement. At this point there wasn't enough left of either of them to even make a good dust rag. She admitted to herself, she was flipping out a little. Last night had opened her eyes wide and in more ways than one. She felt the need to run for the first time in forever and that alone scared the hell out of her.

"Morning, or is it afternoon?" Bo stretched out her hand and ran it lightly down Faith's back. She didn't miss the brief tensing of Faith's muscles before she relaxed into the soft caress.

"Afternoon," Faith turned towards Bo. One part of her brain was telling her to lay back down in the bed with Bo and the other part was telling her to run like hell as far and as fast as she could.

Bo recognized the deer-caught-in-headlights look on Faith's face. She knew that look because she had worn it for ten long years herself.

Ten years of running, of hiding, of feeling like a freak, feeling like a monster. Ten years of not knowing what it was like to have friends, family, to be cared about, to care for anyone, to love and be loved. Ten years of loneliness that she knew in the end would have destroyed her.

Now that Bo had all those things she had yearned for she wasn't going to let go of any of them easily and Faith factored into all of them. Family, friend, maybe something a little more and she wasn't about to let Faith go any more easily then she would Kenzi, Trick, Lauren, Hale, Val or Dyson. She scooted up behind Faith and wrapped her up in her arms; she stamped down the flash of desire that was her nature, her very being, now was not the time.

"It you want to leave, you can. There're clothes in the closet that should fit you." Bo planted a soft kiss on the side of Faith's neck. She couldn't totally ignore her nature. "But I'd like you to stay and I think, or at least I hope that's what you want too."

"Always been a get some, get gone, want, take, have kinda girl. Spend the whole night, be there in the morning, haven't been there, never done that till now."

"Me too, for ten long years…" Bo lightly kissed Faith's neck again, "…right up until I landed here two years ago."

Faith sighed; she turned around in Bo's embrace and moved a little bit away from her. She needed some distance; it was hard to think being this close. She stared intently into Bo's eyes. She could see that Bo cared for her, in what way and how much she really didn't know. And she cared about Bo, how much and in what way beyond friendship, lust and desire, she honestly didn't know. If it was never more than friendship or friends with benefits that was okay with her. Bo was still after all in love with Lauren, and possibly with Dyson too and she, well she, had always harbored more than just feelings of friendship for Buffy.

Opening up, letting people in, caring, it was new to Faith. She wasn't sure where to start, how to begin. Her relationship with Angel and even Giles had been much different than this, but she had stopped running a long time ago and she wasn't about to start again now. Not when there was so much at stake, not when everything, when it all was within her reach.

"Think I'm freaking out a little, yesterday, everything, all of it was so intense." And she wasn't talking just about the Slayer-vamps, or finding out about the Fae, or revealing who she was. That was part of it, but what was freaking her out had more to do with what happened between them when the sun began its ascent into the morning sky. Faith knew all about fucking, making love well that was something she had never experienced until Bo.

"Understatement that." Of the epic kind Bo thought.

Faith looked down at her hands and she smiled as Bo's hands crept closer until they captured her own. A shudder of white hot desire went through her. Gods... their hands, their mouths, their tongues, their teeth, their lips, their bodies, she and Bo had done things to each other that Faith had never even dreamt, let alone thought was possible.

"Last night, you and me, it was…" Just spit it out Faith, she chided herself, "powerful, passionate, white hot, even a little amazing and…" She floundered, struggling to find the words, they wouldn't come and she wasn't sure how to describe it.

Bo watched all the emotions cross Faith's face and decided to give her a break and help her out. In many ways she had been Faith, so she understood her in a way she suppose no one ever had before.

"Last night, we fucked, a lot. Hard, fast, rough, and all that existed was the hunger, the need and it fit right into your safe, familiar, get some, get gone, want, take, have world Faith. Right up until the last time which was different, and in some ways better, than all the times before, it was deeper, intimate, soft, sensual, erotic, loving and completely unfamiliar to you."

"It was, it is…" Faith told herself to just suck it up and ask what it was she really wanted to know. "What does it mean, what happens now?" Faith pointed between herself and Bo.

"It means whatever we want it to mean, there are no rules Faith, and I'm certainly not an expert. We are if nothing else friends and okay friends with benefits would be my first choice. But even if it wasn't yours, we'd still be friends. We'll just take each day as they come and go from there."

It was time to change the mood. Bo really didn't know what all this meant, or could mean. Not with Faith, or Lauren or even Dyson and Bo was okay with that, and she had a feeling Faith was too. There was no need to make any hard and fast decisions that might later come back to bite them on the ass.

"What's not gonna happen though, is there will be no renting of U-Hauls by either of us." Bo gave Faith a goofy grin.

"That's a relief, I was beginning to worry."

"That's not the energy I'm seeing," Bo leaned forward and gave Faith a slow, sensual, and very intimate kiss and Faith returned it whole heartedly. "Girl, you burn hot. Is it a Slayer thing? And what the hell is a Slayer anyway?"

Faith cared about these people, Bo, Kenzi, Trick, and this town, this place, and she felt that this could finally be home. For now it was enough, for now she could just leave it be, leave behind all the shit and just be.

"If I told you then…" Faith pulled Bo down to the bed with her; she rolled them over so Bo was beneath her and lightly laid her body over her. "…I'd only have to retell it to Trick and Kenzi all over again. And I'm not the only one that burns hot, why don't you tell me what it's like to be a Succubus, what's it was like growing up as one."

"I think I can manage that, but on one condition."

"That'd be?"

"That I tell you some and the rest I get to show you…"

"I think I can handle that."

"I know you can… and more…" Bo purred and leaned up to give Faith a wet, hot kiss that left them both out of breath. "Yeah, um… anyway… I was adopted, I had no idea I was a Fae of the Succubus variety. When I hit puberty I thought I was a freak, a monster even. I was raised by humans, and grew up in a very small town in the Midwest. I went to church every Sunday and my parents taught me that sex was evil."

"They didn't!"

"Oh they did and I believed it too…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kenzi tiptoed into the Clubhouse for two reasons. One she didn't want to interrupt anything and two she had a hangover the size of Mount Everest. She peeked out over the top of her sunglasses. It looked like the coast was clear, there wasn't a Succubus or a… now that she thought about it, they never did find out what Faith was. She wasn't Fae, or maybe she was, but one thing was certain Faith wasn't exactly human, so there wasn't a Fai of any type, and she would have laughed at her own pun if she knew it wouldn't hurt so much, in sight. She scanned the downstairs and her eyes nearly popped right out of her head. There was no way in hell she was cleaning up this mess!

There was ceiling plaster and pieces of splinter floorboards covering at least half of the room. Hell there hadn't been this much of a mess the few times Dyson had stayed over, and that was all of them together. She was surprised Bo's bed wasn't in the middle of the living room floor, and she glanced up just to make sure the floorboards weren't about to give out any second and she'd have Bo, Faith and the bed crashing down on her head. There was some major vag-mojo going on here last night! Score one for Team Faith.

She texted Bo to let her know that Trick was on his way with coffee, bagels and doughnuts, there was no way she was going up there. There was also no way she was yelling up to them, not with the drum solo playing in her head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bo and Faith came downstairs together. They burst out laughing at the sight of Kenzi sprawled out on the couch with a cold cloth across her eyes.

"That's right, yuck it up. We'll see who's yucking last while you two are cleaning up the mess." Kenzi swept her arm out in a grand gesture so they would know exactly what she was talking about.

Faith and Bo just started laughing harder at the amount of dust and ceiling plaster all over the room. Like Kenzi they both looked up to see if the bed was about to come tumbling down upon them which only made them laugh harder still.

"Must you two be so loud and so happy? Misery… company… as in loves… learn it… live it."

Faith vaulted over the couch, pulled Kenzi's feet onto her lap and started to give her a nice deep foot massage, "Maybe this will help, Barbie."

"I'm keeping her Bo."

"Fine with me."

"What's fine with you?" Trick strolled in without knocking, it was either knock or hang onto the tray of coffee, box of doughnuts and bag of bagels. He opted for the latter. Trick handed out the coffee before he made himself comfortable at the kitchen nook. He chuckled to himself when Kenzi mumbled something along the lines about it being, _'yummy nectar of the gods'._

"Kenzi wants to keep Faith."

"Too bad, I claimed her as mine the first day she came into The Dal."

"No, no way! That was fine when you thought she was human, but Faith isn't human... she's a… she's a… she's a… little help Joe…"

"Slayer," Faith supplied.

"Yeah a Slayer so that means you can't, and I… shit, what the hell is a Slayer?"

"Into every generation a Slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer." Faith was a little surprised she actually remembered all of it, personally she thought it was a crock of shit. Well… mostly anyway.

"Really, Joe?" Kenzi gave Faith a sidelong glance. "That cleared it up for me, what about the rest of you…"

Faith took a deep breath it would be easier to tell it all in one shot. "That's what my watcher told me. Up until Buffy it was only one girl in the world. But really Buffy was never alone, she had her Mom, her Watcher Giles, Angel, Dawn and the Scooby Gang. Then the Master drowned Buffy, and Angel he tried to revive her but couldn't since he doesn't actually have breath. Xander did, or does so he brought her back to life, but not before Kendra was called.

"Then there were two Slayers, Kendra and Buffy. But Drusilla, Spikes old squeeze, killed Kendra and then I was called. For a while it was just Buffy and I, then I went all evil, a little crazy, and ended up in jail. While I was there Buffy died again, but no one was called that time, and Giles thinks it's because the Slayer line runs through me, or maybe both me and Buffy and we both had to die in order for the next Slayer to be called. Which can't be right cause only Kendra died, when I was called so…

"But then The First Evil came, and Willow who's a kick ass Witch did a spell that activated all the potential Slayers. So now there is somewhere around a thousand of us scattered around the world and sometimes if I concentrate I can feel them all... That's not the point though… **_The Chosen One, The Slayer_** well that's Buffy. Always has been, always will be, the rest of us are just second rate Slayers." Damn she just channeled Willow. Incoherent, nonsense, run-on sentence ten-year-old babble Willow no less.

"Anyone else besides me need a shot to make sense of that?" Kenzi asked the room in general. Storing away the last part of what Faith said, it had been telling. "And who the hell names their kid Buffy? Is that even a real name?"

Trick had one thought going through his mind when Faith finished, it was the same as last night, _'Can't be, it's just a myth.' _

"That reminds me. I need to call B and let her know what happened yesterday."

"Who the frig is Bee?" Kenzi's head was pounding again.

"That'd be Buffy. I call her **_B. _**As in the letter **_B, _**for short, I got a thing for nicknames."

"Faith," Trick called out to her, "please don't mention..."

"…The Fae. Had no intention to, they probably wouldn't believe me anyway."

Faith left the room and sat down on the bottom step of the stairs to give herself some privacy. She heard the almost, but not quite silent footsteps of six feet. Gotta love Slayer hearing! Nosy bunch they were, hell she couldn't blame them she'd be nosy too.

Faith leaped out from behind the wall with a wild Xena type yell and scared the living shit out of the three of them. They all had the good grace to look a little ashamed and apologetic. "If you promise to stay quiet, I'll make the call on speakerphone, if it will make you all feel better. Besides it will save me from having to retell you two what happened yesterday. Not to mention what happened, is happening still is here in Fae-Wonderland so you should know."

"I pinky swear to be mute like a mime." Kenzi said first, she wanted to hear exactly what a Buffy, or a B as Faith called her sounded like.

"Me too, pinky swear," Bo looked at Kenzi and without having to say it, they both had a sneaky suspicion that Buffy was the no-named blond chick that Faith had talked about and had feelings for that were a tad bit more then friendly.

"Me three."

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"Giles speaking."

"Hey G-man."

"Faith, we've been waiting for your call. Can I assume you have something to report on the missing Slayers?"

Faith's face dropped a little, so much had changed between she and Giles since he had rejoined the Scooby Gang. She had considered him her friend and her mentor when he had taken her under his wing after the fall of Sunnydale. But he had been distant and growing steadily further from her reach. Reverting back to the Giles she had known when she had arrived in Sunnydale the first time. She got it; Buffy had been and always would be his Slayer. They all knew, Faith more than the others, Buffy didn't share well and most especially with her.

"Yeah, you might want to get everyone together."

"Just give me a moment to gather them. I'm going to put you on hold."

A few minutes passed before Faith heard the click that let her know that Giles had reopened the line.

"One second, let me put you on speaker. I have Buffy, Willow and Xander here with me. Kennedy however won't be joining us she's out on patrol."

"Hey all how is everyone?"

"Faith, so nice of you to take the time out of your busy social schedule to finally remember to check in, after all you only _work_ for me."

"Been kind of busy B...uffy and I talked to Willow only a week or two ago."

"She did Buffy."

"For long enough to find out if she was under a spell Willow, but not long enough to update us. Then again that's Faith; you'd think we'd be used to how she operates by now."

"Enough! This is counterproductive; Faith has news, so let her speak." Giles paused; Faith could see him in her mind's eye, waiting for Buffy to indicate to him that she was going to keep quiet. "Continue Faith."

"I found all five of them in an abandoned warehouse yesterday. They were… they were…" Faith stopped to take a shaky breath. The loss of the five young women cut her deeply. She blamed herself for what they had become. She smiled gratefully at Bo when she felt her arm come around her. It was comforting. "They were…" She tried again and again her voice caught in her throat. She blinked and swallowed hard fighting back the tears that desperately wanted to fall.

"Oh for Christ's sakes just spit it out already!" Buffy, they all recognized her voice. It was a little on the annoying side.

Bo didn't like this Buffy chick one bit, and it looked like Kenzi and Trick agreed with her. Anger was beginning to slowly boil under her skin at how this woman was speaking to Faith. This Buffy woman was insensitive. Couldn't she hear the anguish, the sadness in Faith's voice? Hell Buffy had known Faith for years, Bo had only known her a month or so and in reality had only spent any real time with Faith this past week or so and even she could hear those emotions in Faith's voice.

"They had been turned. All five of them, only it wasn't by accident. They sought it out, they wanted to be those horrors and they said there were more of them, but I…"

"All five? All five? What the fuck have you been doing the last few months, taking a goddamn vacation? You said they were fine, give them a little time, they were just sowing their oats. We listened to you! This is your fault! I should have known better than to trust you, again!"

"Buffy that's not fair, we agreed with her assessment."

"Yes Will it is fair, she's supposed to be our **_expert_**, not me, not you. She's the one who's been there. She's the one that tried to help the Mayor become a pure demon. She's the one who murdered two people, and terrorized everyone else. She's the one who's evil… um went evil… whatever… she was evil… She's the **_expert_** we rely on. I told you this wasn't a good idea! I told you she couldn't be trusted to be out there all alone. This is her fucking fault! Their deaths and anyone else they killed along the way is on her head. Their blood is on her hands."

"B calm down. Look I get it; it's my fault I messed up. I…"

"Friggin right it's your fault. What the hell have you been doing all this time Faith, drinking, dancing and screwing the nights away?"

That was it; there was no way in hell Bo was going to keep her mouth shut. As hot as her passion, her hunger burned, her protectiveness, her loyalty, for those she cared about burned just as hotly. She snatched the phone off the counter and it was with no small amount of joy she saw that her hand wasn't the only one reaching for it. She just happened to be faster than either Kenzi or Trick.

"That's enough you fucking snotty self-righteous bitch! Faith has been running herself ragged for the last month. She was out looking for those girls before the sun rose and well into the night every day, all day long, seven days a week. She almost died taking out all five of those things and it killed her inside to have to do it. Not to mention she saved my life last night. So instead of yelling and screaming at her about what she was doing, how about you ask yourself what the fuck you were doing to find them. What any of you were doing?"

"Who the…" Buffy tried only to be cut off by Bo.

"Did it ever occur to your small little brain to pick up the phone and call her? That maybe after months of searching she might need help finding them? Ever occur to you when she didn't check in she might be hurt or even dead? No I bet it didn't! You were too busy prancing around on your high horse, bouncing up and down getting a happy from that stick up your ass, pointing fingers and not taking any of the blame yourself… any of you, you're all to blame." Bo was beyond furious, though it didn't stop her from winking at Faith who was just staring at her with her mouth hanging open.

"**WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT? AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ANYWAY?"**

"Why… I'm Dorothy, which makes you the evil fucking Wicked Witch of the West! And I dare, you stuck-up insensitive bitch because somebody needs to."

"Put Faith back on the phone **NOW**! And you better hope we never meet face to face."

"Bring it, you couldn't beat me on your best day, you washed up hag." Bo raised her hand and Kenzi high-fived her, and then she put the phone back down on the counter with a nod to Faith indicating she was finished telling off the bitch on the other end of it.

"Buffy." She was surprised her voice was so calm.

"Are you out of your mind? Who the hell was that, your latest who…"

"Don't Buffy; don't go there because you're not gonna like what happens if you do."

"Don't make me laugh Faith; even at your evilest I wasn't scared of you. Just get your ass back to Cleveland now! We'll finish this conversation when you get here and you can bet we'll be discussing exactly what you've been doing all this time."

"Not happening, not right now. I'm staying right here."

"I gave you an order Faith. You work for me, remember?"

"Fuck you and your orders Buffy. I'm not coming back until I find the rest of them and even then I might not come back."

"Faith don't make me come there and drag you back by your hair."

"This conversation is over. Giles I'll send you a report as soon as I can."

"Faith…"

"Buffy, do shut up and stop acting like a child. Faith, please be safe. I worry about you, in spite of what you may think."

And Faith would have been surprised by the affection in Giles eyes for her, and by the smirk he had been hiding behind his hand the whole time Bo had been telling Buffy off. Even he knew 'The Chosen One' needed to be knocked off her high horse every once in a while.

"Thanks G-man, and you be safe too. In fact all of you be safe, even you Buffy."

"Giles how coul…" Faith snapped the phone shut. It felt good, very good to hear Giles tell her that, and it felt even better to know she wasn't as alone as she thought.

"No fair, I wanted to talk to her too. Call her back, Joe."

"Yeah, call her back Joe," Trick chimed in.

"Maybe later," Faith turned towards Bo who was a little off to the side giving her a guilty look. "And you…"

"I'm sorry… actually… No I'm really not sorry. She deserved it, there was no way I could do nothing. No way I was going to let her get away with treating you like that."

"Don't apologize, it's all good… and thank you. I only wish I had the guts to tell her off like that."

"There's always next time." Kenzi suggested.

"There is that," Faith reached under the counter, "And Bo nice visuals, especially the bouncing up and down on the…"

"Stop! Don't say another word! Shit, again with the bad visuals!"

"Here this might help," Faith tossed the Brillo Pad she had grabbed a few seconds earlier to Kenzi.

"Well ain't you just a freakin peach?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Faith scanned the crowd; it seemed like all the different types of Fae were out tonight. The Dal was packed; there was even a guy over in the corner with a third eye. This was the first time she had been here at prime time on a weekend night, and certainly the first time there had been this many obvious Fae out and partying. Guess it didn't matter, human, Fae, demon, they all liked to have a good time, hang out, get drunk, try to pick up someone, dance and socialize.

_'You call me a bitch like it's a bad thing - You call me a freak like that means something - Can't get your way so you insult me - I think we know the rest…'_

Faith gave an internal sigh when she heard the now all too familiar ringtone. She had thought it was funny when she had discovered the song by _Halestorm_ and picked it as Buffy's ringtone, now it was just annoying the shit out of her. Buffy had been calling her non-stop since their conversation earlier today. Faith hit the button to send the call to voice mail, which she knew had to be annoying the other Slayer to no end, especially since her mailbox was full.

"The Wicked Witch again?" Kenzi was hoping against hope that Faith would leave her phone out so she could answer it the next time the bitch called. It wasn't fair that only Bo got to have all the fun.

"Yep, keep waitin' on her to port in any minute." Shit! She hadn't thought of that until now.

She wouldn't put it past Buffy to have Willow teleport her here. Then again it was more likely Buffy would have Willow teleport Faith to Cleveland. "Trick, can I talk to you in private a second?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Faith, Bo and Kenzi followed Trick into his private apartment. As Faith looked around she completely understood Bo and Kenzi's Tolkien references. By the things scattered around his living space, Faith got the distinct impression that Trick was much, much older than what he appeared to be.

"How can I help?"

Faith began by telling them a little bit about Willow, this time in a much more coherent way. How one of Willow's many powers was the ability to track, pinpoint Slayer's locations. It seem though Willow had been having difficulty in pinpointing the five missing Slayers once they had neared this town. She wasn't sure though if it was because they had no longer been Slayers and were hybrids or if it had something to do with this being Fae-Town.

She told them Willow also had the ability, the magical power to not only teleport herself, but others as well. Her fear was that Willow would either teleport Buffy here, or what she felt was more likely to happen was that Buffy would have Willow teleport her to Cleveland. Buffy never gave up; she was relentless, especially when she didn't get her way. Actually she was surprised she hadn't already done it, it certainly wouldn't be the first time.

Willow was in Faith's estimation, and Giles as well, one of the most powerful, if not **_the_** most powerful witch walking the earth today.

"I don't think there'd be any joy to be had if Buffy showed up here. If I could tell that the people here weren't quite human, she'll be able to as well and I'm pretty sure no one wants that to happen. And I'm not going back there until I'm absolutely sure that there aren't any more of those horrors out there like Gina implied. So basically I need a way to drop off Willow's radar."

Trick wasn't so sure that Buffy would be able to sense them, they had lived hidden among the humans for thousands of years. He doubted this was the first time the Fae had crossed paths with a Slayer. He secretly thought Faith had sensed them because she was different than other Slayers. Different than what even she thought she was; what any of them thought she was.

Trick had a theory, though he hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet, they would have thought him insane. In any case he couldn't be sure until he found out more about Faith, and how the Slayer came to be. They needed to have a long talk and soon.

"I think…" Trick hurried out of the room, he was back in a little under a minute. "Yes, this just might work." He handed Faith an ornate silver Celtic knotwork necklace with writing on the back in runic script.

Faith admired the intricate design, she knew without being told that the necklace was very old, as in a couple of hundred years old. She didn't know it then but she was off in her estimation by a thousand years or so. "Nice. What's it say?"

"Basically, it means hidden. Willow shouldn't be able to 'see' you with magic, or at the very least she won't get a clear picture of where you are. If she can't see you clearly, then she can't teleport you, or teleport anyone directly to your location. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee the necklace will work for you, it is after all Fae." Silently Trick thought to himself and made specifically for someone Fae or with a little Fae in them.

"Cool." Faith slipped the necklace over her head, she hoped it worked. There was no point in worrying about it though. If it worked, it worked. If it didn't she was sure she'd soon find out. "Thank you Trick."

"You're very welcome."

"Hey Trickster, how come you never give any bling to the human?"

"Or the Succubus?"

Trick just shook his head and rolled his eyes at Kenzi and Bo.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter - 9**

"What do you mean you can't find her?"

"It's not that I can't find her, it's like she's nowhere and everywhere all at once Buffy. I've never seen anything like it; she must be using some powerful magic's to keep herself hidden like this." Willow was beyond frustrated, and she really didn't like what she was doing on top of it. There was also a nagging feeling that something else was going on. There was something strange about that whole area and something strange about Faith's Slayer essence, but she wasn't about to tell Buffy that.

After calling Faith repeatedly for the last five days and getting nothing but voice mail and no return call, Buffy went from being just simply pissed off to ballistic. Fine she thought, Faith wanted to play then she would play too. If Faith wasn't going to come to them, then Buffy would go to her. She changed her mind quickly when she realized she'd be going into unfamiliar territory and obviously after the other day Faith wasn't running around on the playground alone. So she decided she'd much rather have Faith brought to her, this way she could ensure the deck would be stacked in her favor.

Willow had tried to talk her out of it, but in the end had complied. She was the leader. She, not Faith, was in charge. Something Faith had conveniently forgotten and Buffy was determined she was going to make Faith remember that, even if she had to beat it into her thick skull.

"Well keep trying Will you'll figure out a way around it, you always do."

"Sure Buffy." Eventually she would figure it out and that was exactly what Willow was afraid of. Because if she was honest with herself, Willow wasn't totally sure what she would do with the information once she did get it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Faith was sitting on the curb outside of the Clubhouse, a single bag with all her worldly possessions next to her. Oddly enough she was reading a book on Fae culture that Trick had given her while she waited for Bo and or Kenzi to get home. If Giles could only see her now. The book was interesting if nothing else. The Fae had tons of rules, traditions, and customs. It was a miracle anyone managed to remember them, let alone keep them straight.

Idly she wondered if she should just slide the keys to Bo's car under the door. Bo had been kind enough to lend her, her car a few days ago. A car which had been affectionately named Tweedy by Kenzi.

Faith had gone back to the abandoned warehouse the day after she had slayed the five ex-Slayers. She searched the place from top to bottom and had found all five ex-Slayers possessions hidden under a floorboard in the manager's office. There was also a diary of sorts among Gina's possessions. It had a brief account of how they were turned. Sketchy details of what their plans were, but most importantly it had a list of names of other Slayers that had been turned. It seemed though once they had gotten here Gina had lost interest in writing in the diary, so Faith was back to virtually square one.

As much as she didn't want to, Faith knew she had to call Giles and let him know what was going on. She needed to call him anyway; she was almost completely out of cash. There hadn't been a deposit to her account this week. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had made sure of that.

_No time like the present._ She thought to herself.

"Giles speaking."

"Hey G-man."

"Faith, how are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Fine, fine, thank you."

"Listen G, seemed Gina wasn't lying about there being other turned Slayers."

"That's most disconcerting news. Do you know how many?"

"Around twenty, but I'm pretty sure there are more. Gina and gang weren't working alone. Someone else is running the show, but I don't know who yet. They're targeting the Slayers we haven't brought into the fold yet. Gina had a diary of sorts, I'm gonna send it to you express mail, maybe you can figure out what they're planning. She almost made it sound like it was some kind of prophesy they're fulfilling."

"Yes, yes, that would be helpful; in the meantime I'll start searching through the library here. Faith you do realize that I'm going to have to tell Buffy about this."

"Yeah G, I understand. This is bigger than B and I."

"I do apologize; I should have nipped her tantrum in the bud."

"Not your fault Giles, me and B, we're just oil and water. Always have been, guess we always will be."

"That still doesn't make it right, nor does it excuse her behavior or mine for that matter."

"It's all good Giles, but there is one thing."

"Yes."

"Kinda running low on cash, don't even have enough to pay for a room tonight. Seems someone forgot to put money in my account this week..."

"Would you like me to book a room for you?"

"Nah, it's cool, won't be the first time I had to squat somewhere for the night." She wanted to say yes, but that would mean he would know exactly where she was. It wasn't Giles she didn't trust, what she didn't trust was that somehow, someway Buffy would find out. Like she said it wouldn't be the first time she had to squat somewhere for the night. It hadn't killed her before and it sure as hell wouldn't kill her now.

"If you change your mind please let me know. I shall make a deposit first thing tomorrow when the bank opens from my own personal funds, since the council funds seem to have dried up without my knowledge."

"No G, don't want you dipping into your own money. I'll figure something out… always have before."

"I insist Faith… you shouldn't need to figure something out… you should have never needed to do that… I want to do this for you... so I must insist."

She thought about arguing with him. But there was something in his voice that told her, he wanted, no… _needed_ to be there for her now, in a way he hadn't before. "Thanks Giles I appreciate it." Faith said graciously and she meant it.

"You're very welcome, and Faith…"

"Yeah?"

"Please proceed with caution, I would hate for anything to happen to you. And should you need anything else, anything at all, please don't hesitate to call me."

"Thanks again Giles, I'll have the diary out to you tomorrow."

Well that call certainly wasn't what she expected, she had misjudged him. And just maybe she had misjudged the others as well. Maybe this was just as much her fault. She wasn't the most forthcoming of people and if she was honest she hadn't really tried that hard after the fall of Sunnydale to mend the bridges and make friends with the Scoobs. Buffy well, that was a whole other story; she doubted they would ever be more than polite or even impolite acquaintances, if that.

"Deep thoughts?"

Faith actually jumped, she thought she was alone on the street. How the hell had they snuck up on her? "Christ, you scared the shit out of me Kenzi!"

"Score one for the human."

"I see you brought Tweedy back safe and sound."

"And fully fueled too."

"You didn't have to do that, especially since she was on E when I gave her to you."

"Just my way of saying thanks, Bo."

"Any time Faith and thank you."

"No problem… well... I'm gonna get going, maybe I'll see you two at the Dal later. Thanks again Bo." Faith picked up her bag; she had barely taken five steps before Bo called out to her. She stopped and turned around.

"You know you're welcome to stay here tonight Faith.'

"Heard all that, I guess." Faith had thought about asking them if she could stay there for the night. But she hadn't wanted Bo to feel like she was obligated because of what had happened between them. It was stupid she knew, but she had never been in this situation before. She wasn't quite sure what to do or how to act.

"Pretty much."

"I was gonna ask you Bo, but I didn't want you to feel like you had to. And with having luggage, the whole U-Haul scenario came to mind so I rethought asking and…" Again with the channeling Willow shit.

"And that's my queue to exit stage left." Kenzi headed towards the front door, she had her hands full with those two. They were socially stunted; you'd think they had never dated anyone before. Oh that's right, they hadn't. Lauren and Dyson didn't count. Because in reality Bo hadn't really dated them and as far as she knew until Bo, Faith had never even spent a whole night with anyone before. Talk about late bloomers, it was a miracle either of them had made it this far.

Right before Kenzi entered the house she decided it was best to make the choice for Faith, for both of them actually, so she yelled over her shoulder. "I'm making pasta take-out for dinner tonight. So you get to make breakfast take-out tomorrow morning Faith."

Bo smirked at Faith, opting to go the same route as Kenzi and said, "I like my coffee black with two sugars."

Faith smirked back at Bo, she knew there was no arguing with these two, she'd only lose. "I'll try to remember that tomorrow morning Tinkerbell, though you might have to spot me the cash, kinda short right now."

"Can do, Faith, it's one of the many things friends…" Bo winked at Faith and started heading for the front door, "and even _**my favorite **__friends-with-benefits_ do for each other." And just as easy as that with no pressure, leaving the choice up to Faith, Bo let Faith know what she wanted.

"Maybe later you can show me the benefits that come with the friends-with package." It was, Faith realized as she followed Bo into the house, just as easy as that.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter – 10**

Faith looked around the small one bedroom apartment she was renting. It was still a little hard for her to believe that she actually had a place of her own. Over the last few years she had become absolutely certain that she would spend the rest of her life moving from motel to motel and even squatting when cash was low. She had never envisioned she'd have a place to hang her hat. A place she'd call home.

Her life had changed drastically the moment she had set foot in this town. Her sense of self, of self-worth and what she had to offer becoming clearer as the days and weeks passed. She had been drowning before and didn't even know it. She had been merely existing, not seeing, not living and not giving. Isolating herself from everyone and everything, thinking it was the only way she could redeem herself for her past deeds.

She realized now how wrong she had been. Redeeming herself wasn't only going to be accomplished by being just the Slayer, she needed to be part of the world and she needed to actually live, to have a life. She came to understand that the small things counted too.

Things like giving someone a shoulder to cry on, lending a helping hand to someone in need. Being there to help ease someone's loneliness, for no other reason other than it was right and not because you were looking for something in return. Everyday human kindness, compassion, loyalty, trust, friendship, family, perhaps even love, they too were part of redeeming herself, of finding redemption.

Faith finally owned up to the fact that she had been running from place to place hoping that the mere act of doing what she had been born to do, as a Slayer, would give her the redemption she sought. It was part of it, but it wasn't all of it and that alone would never be enough.

That was how she had found herself here, in this apartment, within three days of Giles wiring money into her account. A lot more money than her weekly salary, he gave her extra he said, just in case something came up or the Council Funds continued to remain dry and she was unable to reach him.

Trick had helped her find the apartment, insisting, in fact, that she was better off in an apartment rather than a motel since it looked like she might be here a while. He was after all much older and wiser than she, so he knew these things or so he said and Faith hadn't the heart to argue with him. No one had been more surprised than her when she had actually signed a year lease instead of doing a month to month. Bo and Kenzi had insisted that she didn't need to leave, that she was welcome to stay with them at the Clubhouse, but she would hear none of it. It wasn't that she didn't want to, because she did, amongst a host of other reasons, she just knew that it wasn't what either Bo or she needed right.

There were too many unanswered questions in both their lives. Her staying with them, staying with Bo and pulling a U-Haul move would only add more confusion to the mix. Because that's exactly what it would have been. The attraction between her and Bo was too strong. Neither of them thought for a minute that Faith would be sleeping anywhere else besides Bo's bed and sleeping would be the least of what they'd be doing.

This was her first place, first apartment. Her first real chance at making things right, of truly walking that path of redemption. Since she was fourteen, except for those few months with her first Watcher, she had been running and living in either motels or squatting in some abandoned building. This was, as far as she was concerned, the first place she could ever call home. Granted it wasn't a mansion, there was only a bed, a small table with two chairs, a sofa and a lounge chair, but still, it was hers. It felt good; in fact it felt great, and with that thought in mind Faith drifted off to sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'_God save the queen - She ain't no human being - There is no future - In England's dreaming - Don't be told what you want - Don't be told what you need - There's no future, no future, No future for you_'

"What the…" _Phone… Giles… phone… where the hell is my phone?_ She dove for her cell on the floor and hit answer at the same time she hit the floor with a bone jarring impact. "Fuck me sideways…"

"Yes, um… well…"

"Sorry..." Faith chuckled, she knew without having to see him that Giles was beet-red and furiously cleaning his glasses. "What's up G?"

"If you don't mind before I fill you in on the progress we've made I'd like to bring Willow and Kennedy in on the call."

Faith's relationship with Giles had improved since their conversation a few weeks ago. It seemed to be back to where it was prior to him rejoining the Scooby Gang. She had yet to ask him why things had changed so much when he returned to the fold and honestly she already knew it was directly related to Buffy. Buffy just didn't trust her and sometimes Faith wondered if she ever would or if she ever had. But that wasn't the only reason; she had contributed to the deterioration of their relationship. She had pulled back from Giles, figuring it would hurt less when he abandoned her for the Scoobs and Faith had been sure that he would do exactly that. In a way she had forced her expectations to become reality, leaving Giles at a loss on how to regain her trust.

"Sure."

This would be the first time anyone else would be in on a call with Giles. He had informed her that he would be enlisting Willow's help with researching this possible prophesy and also with finding a way to track and pinpoint the Slayers turned vamps. Kennedy would be running recon if they did manage to pinpoint the location of the Slayer vamps.

Faith could only assume if Giles was bringing them into the call that they had finally made some headway on both fronts, and Faith was anxious to get the ball rolling. She was tired of laying low, it wasn't her style, but she had agreed to wait at Giles behest until they knew what they were dealing with.

It was during her second conversation with Giles that he had, in a very subtle way, told her to keep using whatever it was she was using to keep herself off of Willow's 'Slayer GPS'. Letting her know definitively that Buffy was trying to bring her back to Cleveland whether she wanted to come or not. He had also implied that it was Willow herself who had given him that tidbit of information and that she wasn't happy about that particular assignment from the Slayer in charge.

It was that call that finally convinced Faith she had completely misjudged Giles. This time around she was determined to keep the lines of communication open between them, to ask rather than jump to conclusions. It also made her realize that this distance between her and the rest of the Scoobs was partially her fault as well. She had done nothing to foster a friendship with them over the years and they had just followed her lead. Buffy, well… she was a whole different story.

"Hiya Faith, how are you?"

"Good Red… um… Willow… you?"

"Red's fine, in fact, always did like the nickname." Willow laughed. "And I'm good."

"You don't call, write, text, email…"

"Trust-Fund! How you be girl?"

"Good, good… Not as good as you or so I heard, I'm just sorry I missed it when your frie…"

Giles coughed cutting off Kennedy, he knew by the glint in her eyes exactly where she was going. "Yes, now that the pleasantries are over, perhaps we can get down to the business at hand." It was his watcher voice. But the smile on his face which both Willow and Kennedy could see and Faith heard in his voice belied the sternness of his tone.

"Call me later, we'll catch up."

"I just might do that Trust-Fund." She always did like Kennedy, and she was glad that Willow and Kennedy were still together. They both deserved something solid, something good in their lives. The fact that Willow could be happy and find love, gave Faith hope that maybe someday she could too. "The floor is yours, G."

"Both Willow and I have been researching to see if there is indeed a prophesy regarding an army of Slayer-vampires. While neither of us have found the actual prophesy itself, we have found references in various books and on the internet that seem to indicate that there is in fact a prophesy of sorts.

"From what we found so far this prophesy seems to be quite old. Older than anything we've come across before. If I were to guess I would say it dates back to the time when the First Slayer was created. In fact everything we've found thus far points to the Shadow Men, the First Slayer, the Guardians, the creation of the Slayer and the Scythe. Though the Scythe seems to be referenced in quite a bit of what we have found as a Triptych but by the description we believe that it's the same weapon..."

"_We think the council was lying about how the Slayer was created."_ Willow rushed out, cutting Giles off, she took a deep breath and continued at a slower pace. "And we don't think that it's truly a prophesy but rather more a promise made by whomever the Shadow Men stole the power from. Nor do we think the Slayer was created from a demon, demon-y type..."

"Well, color me surprise… not." Faith couldn't contain her sarcasm. With the exception of her first Watcher, Giles and Wesley, she had never trusted Watchers or their Council. They had never given her reason to.

"I would like to say it came as a surprise to me, but I'm afraid that it didn't. I always felt they were hiding something and I imagine that only the highest echelon of the Watchers Council was privy to the true secret of the creation of the Slayer. I am afraid however with the death of all but a few of us; we may never know the full truth. In either case we do have enough information to believe that something is coming. Whether prophesy or promise it will come to fruition."

"So what's the next step G?"

"We'll continue to research, which brings me to our immediate problem."

"The Slayer-vamps..." Faith already knew they were out there, she could feel them, just like she could feel all the other Slayers. With Trick's help she had been learning how to distinguish, isolate and follow the link to not just the Slayer-Vamps but the other Slayers as well. She had yet to talk to Giles about this new development and she knew it was a conversation they needed to have sooner rather than later.

"Yep and not to pat my own back or anything, I figured out how to track them just like I can the Slayers. Unlike some people I know, but that's all good, 'cause really finding them right now is more important than um, anyone or anything else… and that's about it… and yeah…"

"You're babbling babe."

"If she didn't babble Trust-Fund, I'd have to wonder if it was really Red."

"Ain't that the truth!"

"Does she babble all the time?" Faith asked in a low husky voice so Kennedy would get her meaning.

"She sure does, especially when she's…"

"You two are really funny, would be even funnier as toads."

"Rather be a rabbit, rabbits are cute."

"Panther… wicked hot, sexy, sleek…"

"Oh good Lord, that will be quite enough! Willow please proceed…"

Willow gave Giles a sympathetic look before she continued, "Anyway… I've been tracking them. There seems to be two groups, a smaller group that's heading towards us in Cleveland. We think they're coming after the Scythe. The other group Giles believes is heading in the general direction of where you found Gina and crew."

"How many Red?"

"All total, ninety-eight. Twenty heading our way the rest heading in the same direction that Gina was…"

"Fuck!"

"Faith!"

"Sorry G. I get why they would be going to Cleveland, but why would they be coming this way?"

"If what Gina implied about turning you was in fact the truth, we believe they're coming for you because the Slayer line runs through you. Imagine the power you would wield if you were turned and had possession of the Scythe." Giles told her softly his voice laced with fear for her and it surprised her though at this point in their relationship it shouldn't have. If she wasn't sure before, Faith was now, Giles truly cared for her.

Faith knew somewhere in the back of his mind Giles was thinking about the conversation they had so long ago about how she felt connected to all the other Slayers. How they seemed to 'feed' her powers. She'd make The First look like a newborn compared to her. Especially now since she knew that she did tap into that power and that she could tap into it at will.

"I'd put a knife through my heart before I'd let that happen." Not one of them doubted she would if it came to that.

"That ain't gonna happen. I got your back no matter what." Kennedy meant it, and knew that Faith knew she meant it too. No matter how much distance there was between them. How much they seemed to have lost touch with each other over the last few years, she would always have Faith's back. She felt connected to Faith in a way she didn't feel connected to any of the other Slayers, it was just as simple as that.

"I do as well Faith, no matter what. And I'll do everything in my power to make sure it doesn't come to that."

Faith was surprised by the sincerity in Willow's voice. She had misjudged her too it seemed.

"I know you will Red and thanks, means a lot… oh and you too Trust-Fund."

"Sure, sure… Now that the share and care hour is over let me fill you in on what I've been doing."

"Oh you mean you're more than a pretty face and bed warmer Trust-Fund?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

"Not really, 'sides I think Red'd turn us into toads… and green is so not my color."

"LADIES!"

"No need to yell Giles…" Kennedy gave him a thousand watt smile which surprisingly enough he returned. "Anyway, did some recon on these S.V.'s. For the kids in the back of the bus that stands for _Slayer-Vamps_. We wanted to see if we could get any more intel on who their leader is. Giles told me not to take them out unless they were trying to turn someone or feeding, neither of which they did. Well… that's not exactly true… they did feed but it seems these S.V.'s are feeding on regular, everyday garden variety vamps. So I didn't feel the need to stop them."

"Looks like they're doing our job for us, I can't help but wonder why though."

"Me either, then again I suppose they're trying to stay off our radar. Obviously they know about us. I'm gonna go ahead and guess after you took out Gina and crew they're playing it safe hoping we don't know about the rest of them. In any case we have Slayers spying on all the groups of S.V.'s. From their reports these other groups are keeping with the plan of feeding on regular vamps and they haven't tried to turn any other Slayers or anyone else for that matter. At this point we think they may have created their army or at least for now they've shifted their priority to the Scythe and you.

"And we don't think their leader is with any of the groups we're tracking. So their leader is either not a S.V. or she's cloaking herself somehow from Willow, kinda like you are."

"KENNEDY!" Willow smacked Kennedy in the back of the head and gave her a 'you're in so much trouble' face.

Kennedy chose to ignore Willow, "Come on Will, you honestly think she doesn't know that we know?"

"Not the point missy! I told you about being asked by… trying to pinpoint Faith's location and not being able to find her in confidence. You know as my lover, not as head Wicca to Slayer. You can be such a blabber mouth sometimes!" Willow fumed, completely ignoring the fact that she had just blurted out that she was indeed trying to trace Faith's location and that she was having no luck in that department.

The other three people in on the conference call all had to wonder if Willow had blurted that all out subconsciously or on purpose in order to warn Faith that Buffy was definitely looking for her. The twinkle in Willow's eyes let both Kennedy and Giles know that her slip wasn't an accident.

"Hello… I'm a blabber mouth… might want to take a look in the mirror…"

"Again, not the point, besides you said it first…"

"And you filled in all the gaps…"

Giles took off his glasses; he swore sometimes they could all be just as exasperating as they were in high school. "Now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, may we continue?"

Willow and Kennedy gave Giles a sheepish smile and nodded. Though by the casual way he accepted it and the fact that Faith didn't say anything, they had a sneaking feeling that Giles had already warned Faith as was per Willow's first plan.

"Now where were we?" Giles had completely lost his train of thought and it was actually fine. He was glad that both Kennedy and Willow had said what they did. He wanted Faith to know that there was more than just him on her side and that she had, whether she believed it or not, friends here and people that cared about her.

"I know you probably already have a plan Giles, you always do. Before we get into that I'd like to ask a favor."

Whatever was going to happen was going to happen here in Fae-Town. Here in the town Faith now considered home. She was positive of that. Gina and company had been heading in this direction before Faith had caught up to them. So it wasn't just her they were after there was something here they wanted too.

She needed to bring Trick, Bo, and Kenzi up to speed. In fact she was hoping Trick could help with the research, he'd been around a long time he might know something and or have access to material they didn't.

"Ask, whatever you need if it is within my power to do, it's yours."

"I'd like you to send me copies of all the stuff you found in the books and the names of the books too. Also a list of the links for the internet info, and a copy of Gina's diary, got some people here I think might be able to help."

"I'll start on that as soon as we finish up. Is there anything else you need?"

The fact that not one of them asked who these people were that Faith wanted to help or how she knew them spoke volumes to her. They trusted her and it felt damn good. "Nope, that should cover it. Got a pen and a piece of paper I'll give you my address…"

"Go ahead."

"It's 423…"

"WAIT! Um… urgent, have to go now… gonna forget… see no evil; hear no evil… heard nothing… know nothing… Was good talking to you Faith, be careful and we'll talk to you soon. Have to discipline Kennedy for her slip up and oh shit… that just came out wrong. Going now…" Willow grabbed Kennedy and dragged her out the door before Faith got a chance to say goodbye to them.

Willow didn't want to know where Faith really was. Buffy was still obsessed with bring Faith back to Cleveland and honestly Willow didn't agree with her. Eventually she knew they would all have to meet up. This was a war Faith couldn't wage alone and Willow had no intention of letting her wage it alone, though from the sounds of it Faith wasn't alone.

After Buffy had ordered her to track down Faith like she was a rabid animal and not a fellow Slayer, Willow had done a lot of thinking. She was tired of this on-going rancor Buffy had against Faith. It would be one thing if Faith had done anything over the last decade to warrant it, but she hadn't. No matter what she said to Buffy, Willow could not get her to change her mind or sit down with Faith to finally hash this all out. Willow had forgiven Faith a long time ago for everything that had happened. Besides who the hell was she to judge Faith anyway, she had after all, with malice and forethought, flayed a man alive.

Willow regretted how she had treated Faith when she first came to Sunnydale, and she had high hopes that the bonding they had done on the trip from LA to Sunnydale all those years ago would have been the first steps towards friendship. That turned out not to be the case, Faith had pulled away from them after the defeat of The First and Willow let her without a fight, and it too became another thing she regretted. Willow was determined this time around, now that there seemed to be a crack in that proverbial door, so to speak, not to let that happen again.

There had been something in Faith's voice today that Willow had never heard before. Happiness, contentment, confidence and it made her smile. She had only one thought in her head as she dragged Kennedy away; it was about fucking time.

"That was interesting."

"Indeed it was. And Faith, I just want to say thank you for once again giving me your trust. It means a great deal to me."

"Ditto Giles… So anyway… tell me the plan and don't forget to get my address before we hang up…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter – 11**

Sunday afternoon found Faith, Kenzi, Bo and Trick gathered around the kitchen table in Trick's apartment pouring over the documents that Giles had sent express mail to Faith. Truth be told, it was Trick who was really doing all the reading and organizing the information from the books into some coherency. The three women were mostly getting the books he asked for from his personal library.

Faith had been amazed when she had been given the grand tour of Trick's apartment, it was a lot larger then she imagined. The library while not huge, was by no means small and Faith knew that Giles would have all but traded his soul to get his hands on the books contained within. It would, without a doubt, be a Watcher's wet dream. No one needed to tell her that these books were very old and very rare. For the most part she would bet that there were few humans that had ever seen them, let alone knew of their existence.

Over the last few weeks Trick and Faith had conversations about being the Slayer. What being a Slayer meant, the abilities she possessed and the history of how the Slayer came to be. It wasn't until he read the documents in front of him that he learned of the Scythe and the Guardians. It was those two things, along with Faith's ability to feel the other Slayers and the fact she could easily stop Bo from taking her chi if she chose that had Trick ninety-nine point nine percent sure that his insane theory was correct.

If he was right about Faith and if this 'prophesy' was what he thought it was, then some serious shit was about to hit the fan in Fae-Town.

Finally after what seemed like a small eternity to all three women, Trick put down the last book and leaned back in his chair.

"So…" Faith stared intently at Trick. He looked a little tired and a little shell shocked and that had her worried.

It came as a surprise to her that she was downright frightened. For this town, for Kenzi, Bo and Trick, and even for herself and it terrified her she felt this way. In a sense, even though she knew it was illogical she was blaming herself for bringing this shit down upon their heads.

"I think it's time we paid a visit to The Ash." Trick said simply.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Though the three women badgered Trick on the way over, he refused to tell them anything, including why they were on their way to meet with The Ash. They continued to badger him right up until they reached the doors to The Ash's inner sanctum and Trick cut them all off.

"You two wait here," Trick pointed at Kenzi and Faith, "Bo you come with me." Trick moved quickly when the two guards opened the doors, Bo following right on his heels after shrugging at the inquiring looks both Kenzi and Faith were giving her.

Faith moved to follow after them but found her way quickly blocked by the two guards and the doors slamming right in her face. She sized up the two guards, she was pretty sure she could take them.

As if reading her mind, Kenzi put a restraining hand on Faith's arm. "Wouldn't be the brightest idea you ever had."

"Probably not," Faith turned towards Kenzi, and gave her a half smile, "wouldn't be the first time though."

"No doubt," Kenzi chuckled and smiled back, "I know it's hard for you, but you just need to trust Trick. Nine times out of ten he knows what he's doing."

"I do," Faith sighed. As hard as it was for her, she had gone to Trick, Bo and Kenzi for help. At some point since she had been here she realized that she needed people like them in her life and that asking for help didn't make you weak. In fact it was the other way around; it showed exactly how strong you were. "I trust all of you."

"So Joe, we really need to go shopping for some stuff for your new place."

"I heard how you like to shop for furniture."

"Damn Bo, she's got a big mouth and really it's not what you think."

"Sure, sure…"

"No really, it's like this… One sec my phone is vibrating…" Kenzi dug her phone out of her bottomless bag and wandered down the hallway away from Faith. "Why are you calling me? Um… yeah… what… why… don't like it… okay, okay, I got it… bye…" She ended the call and made her way back to Faith, "Sorry, so where was I… oh so it's not what you think…"

For the next ten minutes Faith listened to Kenzi rambling on about how it wasn't actually stealing if the furniture in question belonged to a dead person. Faith gave a grateful sigh when the guard finally told them The Ash was ready to receive them.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As soon as Faith stepped through the doors into the inner sanctum she knew something wasn't right. She didn't like the fact that the two guards from the hallway followed them in, closed the doors and took up positions in front of them, effectively blocking their exit. Nor did she fail to notice that there was already two rather large guards flanking either side of the double doors. The four guards at her unprotected back were making her twitchy and that was never a good thing.

What really set her on high alert was the simple fact that neither Trick nor Bo was anywhere in sight.

Despite the warning bells going off in her head, Faith had to suppress her unexpected bark of laughter at her first glimpse of The Ash. He looked ridiculous sitting in that obscenely large, uncomfortable looking stone chair, up on a raised platform.

Faith's eyes quickly moved away from The Ash, she needed to focus on something else before she actually did laugh at him. She took in the woman standing next to The Ash in a glance. Faith couldn't help think the woman was rather hot. While the woman looked soft and curvy there was just something about the way she was holding herself that let Faith know she was anything but. The woman was a warrior and Faith knew it in her gut.

The woman returned Faith's stare with a haughty look that bordered on a sneer, then her gaze moved to Kenzi and back to Faith. Faith was left with no doubt about what the woman thought of humans.

Faith settled her gaze back on The Ash. He was a curious character, he looked young, but Faith knew by now you couldn't judge a Fae's age by their appearance. So for all she knew he could be a thousand years old. He was an attractive man, more on the cute side than handsome. He had a trimmed goatee and an impish look in his eyes. He was decked out in a very expensive Armani suit, and for some strange reason he was wearing a fedora. There was a quiet elegance about him, but somehow she knew he'd be more at home in sneakers, a tee and a pair of jeans.

He continued to stare at them and Faith was at a loss, she wasn't sure what the protocol was. Should she bow, curtsey, wave? She looked sideways at Kenzi to see if she could get a hint, but she was no help. In fact, it looked like Kenzi was shooting daggers at The Ash. Somehow Faith didn't think that was the proper protocol. Suddenly it dawned on her exactly who The Ash was and who the woman next to him was.

It really didn't matter who he was as this point, what really mattered to her was that Bo and Trick were still nowhere in sight. Something stunk in Fae-Town and Faith was getting a bad feeling and her thoughts were drifting in a direction she didn't like at all. She turned slightly towards Kenzi, "Where is Tric…"

Cutting Faith off with a look, Kenzi turned back to the 'throne' and bowed her head slightly in the direction of The Ash and the woman standing next to him, "Thank you for seeing us, your Ash-hol…y… ness."

Faith gawked at Kenzi that definitely wasn't protocol, no matter how well Kenzi might know The Ash. The bad feeling ratcheted itself up a few dozen notches.

The flash of anger and offense was clear in The Ash's eyes and Faith didn't miss the slight nod at the guards behind her. She sensed rather than saw the guard swinging a fist towards Kenzi. She didn't stop to consider the consequences when she pivoted towards the guard, her own hand already reaching out to stop him.

She was aware of the attitude most Fae had about humans. They considered them lesser beings, expendable, chattel; slaves, food and Faith had no reason to believe that the Fae in the room with her and Kenzi thought any differently. It didn't matter what Kenzi, Bo and Trick thought of The Ash and his entourage, she didn't know them from Adam.

Faith unconsciously drew the power of the other Slayers into her as she turned and she easily caught the guard's fist and stopped his forward momentum. "I don't think you want to do that, I just might have to hurt you if you do."

He was in front of her one second and the next he wasn't. She turned and moved a foot to her left and was waiting for him when he reappeared. He looked at her in amazement and she looked right back at him in amazement. She had no idea how she had known where he would reappear. It was almost like she felt his energy move, almost like she could see it.

What the fuck was going on?

What the fuck was happening to her?

Faith didn't stop to think about it for long instead she just grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him into the wall in the corner of the room.

Faith turned back towards Kenzi just in time to see one of the other guards grab her. "I'm only gonna ask you once to let her go, if you don't I can't promise to play nice." Faith took a step towards them and while still moving reached behind her and sent the first guard flying back across the room into the corner again.

She kept a wary eye on The Ash and the woman with him as she closed the distance between herself and the guard holding Kenzi. When she was within arms distance of them the toe of her boot hit an invisible wall and she stopped moving. She nudged it twice and felt it give a little and with a smirk she reached right through it. Faith was merely a blur as she grabbed the arm that was around Kenzi's neck and pulled it away. With her other hand she grabbed Kenzi and shoved her behind her. She turned her attention back to the guard, grabbed him by his shirt and tossed him into the corner with his friend.

"Thanks," Kenzi mumbled from behind Faith.

"Stay tight to my back Kenzi." Once she was sure Kenzi was going to listen to her, because the PTB's knew Kenzi had a mind of her own, Faith turned towards the other two guards still standing, "Next…"

The guard on the left waved his hand at her and she watched as the air rippled and came at her in a wave. She reached behind her and pulled Kenzi tighter to her back, making sure she was completely blocked from the wave. It felt like a brick wall slammed into her for all of one second, then the air shimmered and there was nothing there but just ordinary air. She moved fast towards him and tossed him over into the corner to join his friends.

"And then there was one…" Faith didn't even flinch when fire erupted from the last standing guard's hands. She just drew in more power from the other Slayers and hoped that she wasn't making a mistake that could cause both her and Kenzi's deaths. As soon as the fire started on its fiery arc towards her, she spun around, grabbed Kenzi and took her down to the ground, completely covering Kenzi with her body. She felt only a momentary flash of red-hot heat and then it was gone.

Faith was up off the ground in the blink of an eye and the last guard was tossed in the corner with the rest of his friends, who were all knocked back down to the ground again. Just like bowling, Faith laughed to herself. "Stay down or next time I won't be so gentle," she snarled at them.

Faith helped Kenzi up from the floor and once more positioned herself in front of her. She turned angry eyes at The Ash. Bo and Trick were still nowhere to be seen and Faith couldn't help think she'd been set up and she didn't like it one fucking bit.

"Is this how you treat a…" _ll your guests, _Faith snapped her mouth shut when she realized that while her lips were moving the latter half of what she was saying never came out. She felt it; the woman besides The Ash was feeding on her. Stealing her voice, not exactly feeding in the same way Bo did, but she was feeding on her none-the-less. Not really sure how, just like they hadn't been able to figure out how she could stop Bo, Faith cut the woman's feeding short.

Faith leveled a glare at the woman, "Nice parlor trick, but you're gonna have to do better than that." She laughed derisively at the woman who took a step towards her, "I wouldn't if I were you, not unless you want to join your friends in the corner."

Faith didn't miss the slight hand movement from The Ash towards the woman, who immediately stopped coming towards her.

She turned her gaze to The Ash, who started humming at her.

Faith felt the brush of his breath across her face. The tune he was humming was sweet, soothing and calming. Her eyelids became heavy. Suddenly all she wanted was to lie down and go to sleep. But that wouldn't do at all… no not at all. She knew The Ash was a Siren, she remembered reading about them in one of Trick's books and humming, singing was how they fed. As easily as she had stopped the guards and the woman, she stopped The Ash from feeding.

Again she was nothing but a blur as she moved towards The Ash. She lifted him up into the air by his expensive silk shirt. She heard the four guards stirring in the corner, "If anyone takes another step or touches Kenzi, I'm gonna throw his ass right threw that stained glass window up there. Clear?"

She waited until she heard the agreements from the guards and the woman standing off to the side. Faith turned her attention back to The Ash, "Now you want to tell me what the hell is going on and where Bo and Trick are?" She said it calmly, but the underlying threat came through loud and clear.

"Faith put him down, please." Trick said softly as he stepped out from behind the wall to Faith's left. Bo followed closely at his heels. "Do you believe me now?" Trick asked The Ash.

"I do, then again I never really doubted you Trick." The Ash motioned to the guards on the floor in the back of the room once Faith put him down. Actually she literally dropped him and he was glad she wasn't that tall otherwise the fall would have hurt. He didn't even know Faith, but he'd have to be blind not to see that she was pissed. "Leave us."

"Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on? 'Cause what I'm thinking right now isn't pretty and I really hope it isn't true."

"I told you this pop power quiz wasn't a good idea," Bo glared at Trick, who had the good graces to look shamefaced and contrite. She had tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen. She understood the why, she really did, but she also understood what this would do to Faith, how it would make her feel. It was not of the good, that much was painfully obvious.

"What the fuck? Was this some kind of test? Did you set me up?" She looked from Trick, to Bo, to Kenzi, "Were all of you in on it?" The guilty looks they all gave her was her answer. She couldn't help it, she felt betrayed, but most of all she felt hurt.

"It wasn't like that exactly…"

"No then how was it exactly Trick?" Faith shook her head; she didn't expect something like this from him, Bo or Kenzi. "I guess it never occurred to you to just ask me to do this test. To trust you and just do it and that you would explain everything after." She spun towards Kenzi, "And what the fuck were you thinking, you could have ended up a crispy critter for Christ's sake!"

"I knew that wouldn't happen," Kenzi told her softly.

"Glad you did cause I sure didn't. And if I didn't, how could you?"

"I believe in you."

Kenzi said it so simply and sincerely that she knocked Faith for a loop. At this point she was too angry, too hurt to care whether Kenzi or any of them had that much belief in her. "It doesn't matter what you believe. What any of you believe, I could have seriously hurt someone… could have killed someone…you do realize that, don't you? Christ, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I… Faith, it wasn't…"

"You know what I don't give a fuck, screw you Trick, screw all of you, I'm out of here." She shot one last look at Trick, Bo and Kenzi, the anger and hurt blazing a path right at them.

Faith was out the door before anyone could stop her. Trick started after her only to have Bo stop him, "Let me."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bo only needed to follow the trail of dazed guards strewn around the hallway to figure out what direction Faith had gone in. She finally caught up to her at one of the many exits.

Faith was tugging on the door, using all her strength, but Bo knew the doors were reinforced with internal iron sliders, both horizontal and vertical. Faith no matter how strong she was, wasn't going to get them open, at least not until Hale told someone to open them.

"Faith…"

"Fuck off, Bo." Faith continued to pull on the door. She had tried to punch a hole through it, which was a mistake. There was a good possibility her hand was broken thanks to that idiotic move.

"I love it when you talk dirty to me," Bo reached out and ran her hand softly down Faith's back.

Faith leaned her head up against the door and let out a snort of laughter at Bo's inane response. "I could have hurt someone, killed someone for a damn test…" Faith repeated, then whispered softly, "I wouldn't have survived that, couldn't live with myself if I had…"

"I'm sorry," Bo pulled Faith to her and wrapped her up in her arms tightly. She understood completely.

"Sorry doesn't change anything, I could have, I have… you know that…"

"We knew you wouldn't and we wouldn't have let it go that far. We wouldn't have done that to you, you have to believe me."

Faith clung tightly to Bo, the hurt she was feeling ebbing a little. Deep down inside she knew that none of them would have ever done this to her without a very good reason, nor would they set her up to kill or maim someone, human or Fae for any reason.

"I do, not really sure why, but I do." Faith stared up into Bo's eyes and she truly did believe her. Despite what had just happened she still trusted these people. They cared about her, and she cared about them in return. Even so, it didn't completely alleviate the hurt and betrayal she felt. It was funny, but not, that at thirty years old she finally understood how everyone had felt back in Sunnydale. It was inane, ridiculous and slightly pathetic that it had taken her this long.

Bo fell into those expressive soulful eyes, there was so much more to Faith than most people realized. She slowly brought her mouth to Faith's. She kissed her softly with tenderness and a touch of something more.

They had been ignoring the new white elephant in the room with them now. It had begun to materialize after the second time they had spent the night together and it just seemed to get more solid, more real each time they were together. Their friends-with-benefits package was growing into something more and neither of them were ready to deal with that yet. There were still too many unanswered questions, too many other people involved in the mix. So for now they continued to pretend that friendship was all there was between them. Eventually they knew, like their secrets before, everything would be brought out into the light and laid out on the table.

They parted reluctantly before their simple kiss could get out of control. Both knew it would and making love on the floor by the exit to The Ash's mansion probably wouldn't be the smartest thing they had ever done.

"Girl you burn hot."

"Fighting… you know what it does to me."

"Do I ever… although it's been a few days, I may have forgotten."

"I guess I'll just have to remind you later."

"I'm gonna hold you to that…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Ash-hol…y… ness?"

"If the shoe fits, Hale… it fits."

"She's right…" Val agreed with Kenzi.

"You stay out of this Val…" Hale glared at his sister.

"But Kenzi is _right_; you look like an Ash-hol…y… ness, sitting up there on that absurd throne to your ego."

"Don't make me put you to sleep." Hale threatened.

"Be hard to do if I take your voice." Val threatened him right back.

"It's not my throne, it was Lachlan's. I just haven't gotten around to redecorating yet."

Kenzi gave Hale a 'yeah right' look that implied she didn't believe him. "It's been months, so don't use him as an excuse. I told you I'd go shopping with you."

"Like you have better decorating sense then Lachlan did Kenzi." That actually wasn't the truth, but he'd be damn if he told Kenzi that.

"Now wait just a minute."

"Hate to say it but Hale's right." Well, she'd be damned it wasn't often Val agreed with her brother. But this time she did.

"You stay out of this Val." Kenzi glared at Val.

"Besides I like to actually pay for my furniture." Hale smirked at Kenzi and leaned back on his hard as shit throne.

"Freaking, Bo that's twice today…"

"What'd I do twice today, Kenzi?"

"You keep telling people about the furniture at the Clubhouse! I'm only going to say it one more time an y… so listen, learn and understand. You technically can't steal from a dead guy, seriously it's a thing, ask museums."

"She tried telling me that earlier in the hallway when you were in here making your plans to set me up… didn't believe her either." Everyone focused on Faith when she finished talking and Faith had to keep from squirming.

Faith did start to squirm internally as they continued to stare at her. As much as everyone always believed that Faith liked and wanted to be the center of attention all the time, it was far from the truth. It was only the warmth of Bo's hand in hers and the gentle squeeze of reassurance she gave her, that kept Faith from hightailing it out of there again.

"Stop staring at the girl, you're making her nervous. You're a bunch of rude people." Val stepped towards Faith and held out her hand to her, "I'm…"

"Val, and the Ash-hol…y… ness, is your brother Hale."

"Oh I can see we're going to get along just fine." Val shook Faith's hand and immediately by the firmness of the grip and the strength behind it Faith knew she was right, this woman was a warrior like her. "And why am I not surprised you know who we are?"

"Because," Kenzi, looked around at all of them with amusement. "Trick and Bo, since it apparently runs in the family, are the washerwomen of Fae-Town."

Trick had been quiet up until this point, only half listening to their conversations. He hadn't said a word from the time Faith had stormed out of the room. He had been watching Faith's reactions since she had returned trying to read her, to get a feel for what she was thinking. He was surprised by her lighthearted bantering. He had thought she would return in at least a little bit of a snit. Silently he had been praying to the Gods or the Powers, to anyone that would listen actually, that he hadn't permanently destroyed any part of their relationship by his actions. He had truly come to care for her and if push came to shove he would admit that he considered her family.

"Faith," Trick moved closer to her as he started to speak, "I just want to say that I am deeply sorry…"

"No need Trick, we're good." She smiled at him, letting her affection and even her love for him show. She pulled him into a hug. Seemed since she had been in this town she had learned how to be comfortable with showing her affection. Still in all, she wasn't sure who was more surprised by the hug, her or Trick.

Trick gave her a wide grin after they separated. "Thank you." He said simply.

"You're welcome. So, did you learn what you needed to know?"

"Yes, I did."

Faith watched, they all did, as his large grin faded and his face, his eyes turned serious. There was just a touch of fear in them. They hadn't seen him look this way since the Garuda was threatening them and they all got that creepy feeling that someone had just walked over their graves.

"I'm, we're…" Faith was almost afraid to ask; sometimes she couldn't help think it was better to remain ignorant. "…not gonna like this are we?"

"Some of it yes and some of it probably not… The part about you I would like to say yes you'll like or at least I hope you will. It's, well, it's really quite amazing. The information about the prophesy, which I believe like your Mr. Giles and Willow do, is more a promise, than an actual prophesy, that I would have to say no, in a very large way… You see a long…"

"Wait…" Faith cut Trick off, "I think maybe Giles and the rest of the gang should be here to hear whatever nuke you're going to drop on us. Don't you think so?"

"Actually I do. I'm sure Mr. Giles would be a great help with the rest of the research and there still is quite a bit of research that needs to be done. Research was one of the reasons why we came here to see Hale. As The Ash, he has in his possession everything ever written by the Fae, most demons and even humans and we're going to need access to it."

"Okay… but… I don't want to expose your compound or the Fae any more than we have to at this point. So is there a way to get them here without them knowing where here actually is?"

"We could use Peggy," At everyone's quizzical look Bo elaborated, "She created the insta portals for Dyson and me. She's like a Fae travel agent, sort of. She can probably set one up that brings them directly here. I still have her number. Why don't you give her a call Hale and see if it's possible. I'm sure she won't say no to the Ash-hol…y… ness."

"Enough with that already, it's really not that funny." Hale tried to sound mad, but it didn't work. He actually thought it was funny. He always did have a slightly warped sense of humor. "Just give me the number I'll make the call."

"And while he does that I'm going to call Giles."

After a few minutes, Hale gave the thumbs up to Faith, "Just need coordinates and she'll make the portal."

Faith got the coordinates from Giles. She spoke to him for a few more minutes and then ended their conversation. They would be all set and ready to go in an hour. Once again, with no hesitation, and no questions asked Giles agreed to what Faith was asking. It left her a little dumbstruck.

Faith found despite the possible apocalyptic reasons for this meeting, she was actually excited about seeing Giles, Willow, and Kennedy. The thought of seeing Buffy however, was causing her stomach to churn. She had no idea how Buffy was going to react. Especially considering that Faith had blatantly ignored a direct order and had not once in all this time returned any of her phone calls.

"Faith, before they get here, I'd need to tell you something. I'm not sure if you're going to want to share this with Mr. Giles and company."

She wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he had to say, she just knew it was about her on a personal level. But she had stopped running a long time ago from her past, from herself. Faith had learned over the course of the years to face up to what she feared and to tackle her problems, her life, her past, who and what she was and had been, head on and she wasn't going to start running again now. "Let's hear it."

They all watched as Faith's face went from amused, to disbelief, to almost terror, to confusion, and to wonder as Trick told her what he had discovered. He kept it short and to the point, he didn't go into details, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that what he was saying was the absolute truth. They were all a little shocked; he had laid out his plan to test Faith, but hadn't actually told them the reason why he wanted to do it or what he suspected.

Faith slowly slid down the wall to the floor and buried her head in her hands, "For real, Trick?"

"Yes, for real Faith."

"Fuck me…" It was said with something akin to awe and downright panic at the same time. She raised her head up and looked directly at Bo and despite the fear and astonishment running rampant through her she couldn't help the short bark of laughter that escaped her at the hungry look Bo was giving her again.

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They were all gathered in a building on the far side of the compound, from the Throne Room or Inner _Sanctimonious_ Hall as Hale liked to call it. The building itself was the size of a warehouse. It was referred to alternately as the reading room and the play room, depending on what the building was being used for at the time. There were ten or so couches, various types of easy chairs, loungers, coffee tables and reading lamps scattered about the room.

A solid mahogany bar ran along one wall, with a full size pool table a few feet in front of it. Off to the side was an actual pinball machine. Against one wall was a state of the art console station with just about every game imaginable, some not yet on the market and the largest flat screen TV available in the world. A stainless steel refrigerator with a small kitchen area was adjacent to the bar. Obviously this part of the room was the play area.

Across from the kitchen was a door that led down to the library. The breath and width of which ran the whole ten acres of the compound, not just the warehouse. Faith would have bet her life that there wasn't a library in the world that housed as many books or had the extensive collection of literature on computer servers that The Ash's compound did. She would have been right. She also knew if she left Giles down there alone they would never see or hear from him again.

It would only be a few more minutes until Giles and the Scooby Gang arrived, and Faith had spent the last hour going over in her head what Trick had told her. She couldn't put it off any longer she had to give him her decision, she made her way over to him.

"Tell them everything."

"Are you sure, Faith?"

"I'm sure or as sure as I'm ever gonna be. This isn't the time to be keeping secrets, eventually they only come back to bite you on the ass."

Before Faith could talk herself out of it, since she had flipped flopped quite a few times in the last hour, the portal appeared. Giles stepped out first, then Willow, Kennedy, and last but not least a very unhappy, sullen, and apparently still pissed off Buffy.

"Faith, it's good to see you," then Giles surprised the shit out of Faith when he pulled her into a very warm hug.

Faith delicately untangled herself, cursing the blush she felt creeping up her neck towards her cheeks. "Missed you too G… iles, it's good to see all of you."

"Right..."

So it was going to be the hard way it seemed, Buffy wasn't going to let her anger go. But unlike years ago or even the recent past, Faith wasn't going to feed into it. If Buffy wanted to start something here and now and make an ass out of herself in front of people she didn't even know, that was her problem. Right now there were more important things to worry about than Buffy, her ego, or her self-righteous anger.

"I guess it's up to me to make the intro's since I'm the only one that knows everyone. Well… this is Giles, but you probably already figured that out." Faith cursed that creeping blush again, "This is Willow, or Red as I call her." Willow gave a shy half wave, "…then Kennedy, and next to her is Buffy."

She sucked at this; Faith turned towards the Fae-crew. _Oh shit, _Bo and Kenzi were shooting daggers at Buffy; even Trick's gaze upon her was less than friendly. Faith pointed to each of them, "Trick, Bo, Kenzi, Val, and Hale who was nice enough to let us have this meeting here." She rushed out. "Um… I guess we should all take a seat. Anyone want something to drink, Hale has just about everything."

Kenzi, Val and Faith, quickly gathered the soft drinks for everyone. They scattered around on the couches in the center part of the room where all the documents, books and printouts, from both what Giles had sent and what Trick had dug up on his own were laid out on the large coffee table.

Giles and Trick were sitting next to each other already going through the papers and talking softly to each other.

Faith plopped down on the end of the couch and Bo plopped down right next to her. Hell she was practically on Faith's lap. Buffy was seated directly across from them and staring Faith down. There was no way Faith could miss the storm gathering in Buffy's eyes, but before it could explode Giles started the meeting.

"Right, now that we're all settled, let's get started, if that is fine with you Mr. Trick."

"Absolutely fine Mr. Giles, and it's just Trick or Patrick, please."

"Thank you Patrick and please call me Giles. Yes then well… I'm going to make the assumption that since Faith has asked you to help us with this prophesy that she also told you about being a Slayer. About The first Slayer, some of the Slayer history, Watchers, the Watcher's Council and the supernatural things in this world."

"She did indeed; in fact she saved my granddaughter's life from a group of Slayer-vampires. As far as I know Faith has filled us in on everything she knows about Slayers, as well as her own personal history and her history with all of you."

Faith had filled Hale and Val in on everything as well while they were waiting on Giles and crew, it was a shorter, condensed version of Slayers, her life, her history then the one she given Trick, Kenzi and Bo, but it had all the important or rather 'highlights' of her years as a Slayer. As far as she was concerned, Fae or not, they deserved to know what they were getting into and who they would be helping before they committed to anything.

"I doubt that…" Buffy looked at Faith there was a nasty glint in her eyes. She was positive Faith hadn't told this group of people everything. She would see how much these people liked Faith after they heard all the dirty details, which Buffy was more than happy to supply them with. "…she told you about what happened in Sunnydale the first time she was there…"

"Are you referring to Allan Finch, whom you tossed to her to stake when you mistakenly thought he was a vampire and that action led to Faith staking him and his death?" Trick couldn't resist adding in Buffy's part in the accident, if only to wipe that smug look off her face.

Unfortunately Trick didn't know Buffy and she wasn't going to give up that easily. He looked over at Faith, but her face was impassive and her eyes gave nothing away. Faith's body language was relaxed however, which led Trick to believe that there was nothing Buffy could tell them, that Faith hadn't already told them herself.

Buffy was thrown by what Trick said, but that didn't stop her. After all Allan was an _accident_. "No actually I meant about Professor…"

"…Lester Worth, the man the Mayor asked me to kill when I was working for him. Yeah I told them all about the Mayor and everything else I did when I worked for him. Told them about holding a knife to Willow's throat, about trying to choke the life out of Xander, about trying to turn Angel back into Angelus, then trying to kill him. About the fight you and I had on the roof, how I ended up in a coma. To what happened after the coma with your Mother and the body switch."

Faith gave an internal sigh, "Told them how I fled to LA, tried to kill Angel again this time at the request of Wolfram and Hart. About teaching Wesley the five basic torture groups, to trying to get Angel to kill me. Told them about jail too, how I turned myself in because you told me to and because I didn't want to get Angel in trouble for trying to help me.

"I told them about breaking out, The Beast, Angelus, about returning to Sunnydale with Willow. The fight with the First, the work I did with Giles at first and then on my own. But hey if there's anything you feel I missed B, feel free to fill in the gaps. Any of you are welcome to fill in what you feel is necessary." Faith spoke softly, her voice laced with regret and sorrow, which was also reflected in her eyes.

The only person in the room who was surprised by Faith's lack of anger, or resentment at Buffy trying to throw her under the bus was Buffy herself.

Buffy slouched in her chair, she would wait and watch, sooner or later her time would come and then she and Faith would have it out. She was still livid about Faith's refusal to return to the academy when she was ordered to. Livid that they still didn't know exactly where she was, or for that matter where they were now. If she was honest with herself, but for some reason she never was when it came to Faith, Buffy would have admitted she was still angry at Faith for everything that had happened in the past.

The temporary truce, because in Buffy's mind that's what it had been, when they were fighting The First, had been lifted the second The First had been returned to hell. Whatever tentative steps they had taken towards getting past the past after The First had completely and totally flown the coup after what had happened at Gigi's.

"No… well if anyone changes their minds or feels like they need to add something feel free at any point to interject… For now though, gonna turn the floor back over to Giles and Trick."

"Yes well… since Faith has brought you up to speed on all things Slayer related, any questions you might have or clarification you may need we can discuss now or later." Giles paused to give them a chance to ask questions, when none were forthcoming he continued. "Right then let's move on to The Prophesy, I take it since we are here that you have further information regarding it Patrick."

"Yes I do, however I don't believe it's a prophesy, per say, like you and Willow, I too think it actually is or was a promise made. Which I guess could be taken as prophetic given that it is seems to be beginning or rather, as I believe had begun a few years ago. But before we get into that, have you ever heard of the Fae?"

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To say Giles and crew were shell-shocked after Trick finished his tale of who the Fae were was an understatement of epic proportions. Trick had managed to totally annihilate almost everything Giles, Willow, Kennedy and Buffy knew about supernatural beings.

As Giles mentally went through the list of all things supernatural that they had come across and defeated he realized that some of them had been Fae. Most he believed to be of the Under Fae subculture Trick had told them about, but not all. He found it hard to believe that the Watchers Council had been as unaware of the Fae as he himself had been. Giles felt a tightening in his gut and it wasn't a far stretch to say that he already figured out where the Shadow Men had stolen the power from to create the First Slayer.

"So vampires are Fae?" Willow was a little confused on that point.

"Not the ones we slay, Red. Those vampires are created; they're hybrids of demon and human, _not_ Fae and human. Fae vampires are born; they're not possessed by demons. We believe when we die our soul goes to heaven or hell, not sure if the Fae call what part of them goes to the afterlife a soul, but they do believe in an afterlife, and they do have a _soul_. So no, Fae vampires are not inherently evil, no more than any human is born that way. And even though there are factions in the Fae, the Light and the Dark, not every Light Fae is good, just like not every Dark Fae is evil."

Buffy looked around at all her friends who seemed to be taking these Fae - _demons? -_ and Faith at their word that they weren't evil. Well she sure as shit wasn't convinced, especially since Faith was involved and seemed to be buddy-buddy with them. "And we're just supposed to take your word for it that they're not evil, Faith?"

"I've spent a lot of time with these people and I haven't seen anything to tell me differently. I believe they're not evil."

"Well goody for you, Faith. However, they're not people; they're Fae, whatever the hell that means. Like trolls and ogres, who in my experience aren't all sweet and innocent. We're not even going to talk about the Dark Fae, at least not now. Instead, let's talk about how this wouldn't be the first time you set us up or your first foray into evil. So really your assurance that they're not evil doesn't really hold much weight Faith."

"Why don't you let Trick finish first before you make your decision and then if you're not still convinced stay and judge for yourself. Nobody is telling you, you have to believe me or them blindly, Buffy."

"That's good, because I don't, Faith."

Faith had known it was coming, Buffy was spoiling for a fight, and she had found a way to get it without looking petty. Her doubts we're legitimate, her points valid, but Faith knew and so did everyone else that this wasn't about Buffy's doubts. This was about her and Buffy and the fact that Buffy still distrusted her and quite possibly hated her. It was truly sad after all these years things were still the same between them.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? Having me stay here, isolated and alone with no back up, not to mention we don't even know where here is… It'd make it easy for you this time around, wouldn't it? So tell me Faith, what's the game this time?"

Faith wasn't going to play this tired old song and dance with Buffy nor was she was she going to try and justify anything. She was doing the right thing turning to Trick, to the Fae and bringing Giles and crew in on it. The Fae, these people had shown a lot of trust in her, in her word that Giles and company could be trusted. They give it to her freely this trust, right from the start, something she realized that not even Giles, Buffy or the Scooby Gang had done.

She noticed that both Giles and Trick were about to jump into this impending fight between her and Buffy. She shook her head no at them, this needed to play out. It had needed to be played out years ago, but it never had. What Faith hadn't counted on was Bo.

"Are you that fucking blind, or is it that you can't see past the happy you get from the stick up your ass?"

Up until that point Bo had not said a word, so it wasn't until she did that Buffy realized who she was. Even if she hadn't recognized Bo's voice she would have known it was her by the happy comment. "You're the bitch that was on the phone that night."

"In the flesh," Bo said as she stood up.

Buffy stood up too and faced off against Bo, which made Faith stand, followed by Kenzi.

Willow and Kennedy just decided to wait and see what happened. They both knew nothing would be accomplished until Buffy got her bitch on. Actually they were both surprised it had taken Buffy this long.

Kennedy was tickled pink by Bo's comment and secretly so was Willow. It was about time Faith had someone on her side, and Willow knew that if push came to shove in this case it wouldn't be Buffy's side she'd be standing on.

For her part Kennedy realized somebody needed to occasionally knock _The Chosen One, _off her high horse. While Kennedy would have loved to be the one to do it upon occasion, she didn't love the idea enough to spend a month or possible more sleeping on the couch. She knew Willow would banish her there, whether she believed she was right or not. It's what any true best friend would do. Besides she respected Willow too much to put her in the middle of a war between her and Buffy.

Val and Hale just darted their eyes between all the players. Faith had warned them this might happen and she had garnered a promise from them not to interfere no matter what went down. They had both given it without the slightest hesitation. Their instincts had told them from the get go they could trust Faith. Even if it hadn't they would have trusted her regardless after the way she had protected Kenzi without the slightest bit of hesitation or concern for herself during the test earlier this afternoon. That alone made her one of them.

Like Willow, Faith knew nothing was going to get accomplished if Buffy was still pissed, until she said whatever it was she needed to say. Faith decided not to interfere between Bo and Buffy either, they had their own shit to hash out; eventually she knew her turn would come again.

"I guess you didn't take my warning to heart."

"Oh I did and I believe I told you to bring it."

"You couldn't handle me."

"Keep dreaming Blondie," Bo, because she was Bo, couldn't help but rake her eyes over Buffy. When she finished her _inspection _she gave Buffy a slow sensuous smile that didn't reach her eyes. "…you couldn't handle me, not even on your best day. Nor would I let you handle me. I've never settled for second best, and I sure as hell won't start settling for it now, with you."

The red Buffy was seeing turned scarlet. Bo had just insulted Buffy in the worst way possible. She knew who Bo was referring to as better than her, Buffy wasn't completely oblivious to the body language of the women on the couch across from her. Buffy was and always would be as far as she was concerned, better than Faith. No matter what it was and that even included sex, which she knew without a doubt was what Bo was talking about. What she didn't realize was that Bo was talking about so much more than sex, hell even Bo didn't realize it.

"Considering who you're handling, second best would be a step up, a lot of steps up. Faith likes living in the gutter; it's been her home for a long time. Seems she's found someone who likes living there with her. Faith is trash, no she's actually worse than trash; she's nothing but a murdering psycho slut, a two-bit whor…"

Before Bo had a chance to react, Kenzi did. Kenzi slapped Buffy across the face with every ounce of strength she possessed. "The only trash I see is you. Because only trash would act the way you're acting. So you might want to take a look in the mirror."

Kenzi's slap stunned everyone and Buffy, hand to her cheek, just stared at her with eyes of death.

Faith watched in something parallel to slow motion as Buffy pulled her arm back; hand curled into a fist and started swinging towards Kenzi. Faith moved faster than anyone could comprehend. She pushed Kenzi out of the way and towards Kennedy whom she had no doubt would catch her and keep her safe. She took the blow meant for Kenzi in the chest. It knocked the air right out of her, vaguely she heard something crack. The force of Buffy's punch sent Faith sailing through the air to land with a bone jarring impact against the mahogany bar. The sound of wood splintering was loud in the silent room. Faith was back up on her feet faster than anyone could grasp.

Faith had only made it a few feet before Buffy launched herself at her. Buffy started throwing punches and kicks in earnest, every ounce of fury and loathing she had been harboring for Faith throughout the years behind each hit and kick. Faith didn't return one of them; any desire she ever had to throw down with Buffy had evaporated years ago. Instead at first she clumsily defended herself, her ribs, at least one of which was broken and the pain lancing up and down her spine and legs from the impact against the mahogany bar, screamed at her in pain.

Buffy landed more than a few blows, easily finding holes in Faith's defenses. She sent two fast jabs to Faith's already bruised ribs. She split open Faith's left eyebrow with a right hook, then her lip with a follow up left jab. A well placed kick almost took Faith's legs out from under her.

Still Faith only defended herself, everyone on the Fae side watched on, respecting Faith's request not to interfere no matter what went down, while the rest watched too, stunned into inaction by the seething fury coming from Buffy the likes of which they had never seen before.

As much as Bo wanted to throw herself into the mix and go after Buffy, she didn't. She knew this was a fight that Faith needed to fight alone… for now. Finally after all these years Faith had decided enough was enough, and Bo had too much respect for Faith to take this away from her.

Buffy couldn't see or hear anything passed her tunnel vision of red-hot anger and the white noise roaring in her ears. Buffy's only goal was to hurt Faith and finally show the rest of the world who the Dark Slayer truly was. It didn't register in her mind that Faith wasn't fighting back, nor did she see Faith in the here and now, the Faith she saw was the young girl she had been all those years ago. It was, if she was honest with herself the only Faith, Buffy had ever seen, even after all this time.

Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity Buffy managed to get the upper hand. She once again sent Faith flying backwards, landing hard against the mahogany bar and sliding down to the floor. She was on her in the blink of an eye and began beating Faith with a vengeance that would surely land Faith in the hospital.

Faith knew she was in trouble, she knew instinctively that Buffy wouldn't stop until she was either dead or unconscious. Whether consciously or unconsciously, something Faith would never figure out, Faith feed off all the other Slayer's she was connected to. Like that day in the warehouse, she felt their power, their strength flow through her, and they all watched in amazement as she pushed Buffy off and away from her in one graceful move.

The next thing Buffy knew she was sailing through the air. She landed with what would have been a bone crushing impact had Faith tossed her somewhere else besides onto the plush couch a good distance away from her.

It was the act of Buffy getting up from the couch to go after Faith again that finally broke Willow from her stunned paralysis. This had gone on too long, it needed to stop. "Obturatio," Willow said it softly but they all heard her and Buffy found herself being unceremoniously flung back onto the couch.

Buffy tried to get up. "Manere," Willow spoke again just as softly and Buffy found herself pushed down and 'magically' crazy glued to the couch.

"Willow?" Buffy snarled, though the disbelief at Willow's actions was clearly written across her face.

"You could have killed Kenzi, Buffy." Again Willow spoke softly, her voice filled with a touch of disappointment, confusion and even a bit of anger. Though unspoken, it was clearly implied that Willow believed Faith was justified in her actions and this time the side Willow was picking to stand on wasn't Buffy's.

"She slapped me." The words came out of their own accord and Buffy knew just how wrong they were even as she was saying them. No matter how you looked at, no matter what she felt or believed about what was going on here, she was a Slayer, Kenzi wasn't, she knew better.

"So what that makes it okay to hit her with every ounce of Slayer power you have?" Faith asked though it was more a statement than anything else. Faith held her hand up, shaking her head when Buffy opened her mouth to answer her, "Don't… just don't… I really don't want to hear what you have to say. There's no defense for what you almost did. You could of killed her and trust me it's not somewhere you ever want to go."

Faith took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it when her ribs screamed at her in pain. She wasn't done yet; Buffy wasn't the only one who had things they needed to say.

"And you know what, whatever your issues are with me, I don't care anymore. I'm tired after all these years of trying to get you to trust me, of trying to get past all the anger, hurt and betrayal. My days of bending over and grabbing my ankles for you are over, I've taken full responsibility for what I did, no excuses, no blame dished out to anyone. And frankly I'm tired of apologizing, of trying to prove myself to you. You don't want to talk about it; you just want to stew in your anger and whatever else you feel about me, letting it fester and eat away at you.

"You won't let it go. Well I have, and I'm not playing this game anymore with you. I'm doing what I need to do, to try and make at least a little headway in atoning for my sins before I die. I'm dealing with my demons, with my past and what I've done; you deal with your own.

"One last thing though, these people are like family to me. They accepted me from the get go, they gave me their trust, before and even after I told them everything about me. Something you never did, something none of you ever did. I care for them and they for me. Whether you want to believe it or not they're here to help, in any and every way they can, just like I am. So from this point on, leave your issues and demons at home! We need to all work together to beat whatever it is that's turning Slayers and coming this way. Coming for me, for you, for all of us, so we need to stand together to fight this, if we have any hope of winning. One other thing, you're not the center of the universe Buffy, and there are more important things going on than your feelings about me, so just fucking get over yourself."

Buffy opened her mouth ready to let loose with a heated reply when it suddenly struck her. The words Faith had just spoken to her were laced with many emotions, remorse, sadness, guilt, shame, pain and resignation but not one ounce of anger.

As Buffy stared at Faith she _finally _saw all those emotions reflected in Faith's eyes and she realized then that she didn't know this woman standing in front of her. In fact she had never known her. Not the woman and certainly not the girl Faith had been when they first met. It dawned on her that two of the people she trusted most in this world, Willow and Giles, trusted Faith unconditionally. The fact that they were standing here, and not on Buffy's side and with no questions asked, made that glaringly obvious.

As hard as it was to admit, Buffy knew Faith was right. She was still holding on to all that anger and hurt from all those years ago and she had no one to blame for it but herself. She had shut Faith down each time she had tried to bring up the past and tried to talk about the issues between them.

The reality of it was she had almost killed someone completely innocent of anything that had happened before. Someone who had merely been defending her friends in the same way Buffy and Willow would have. And it had almost happened all because she couldn't let go of her anger at Faith and what had happened in the past. That alone was enough to terrify her and open her eyes wide for the first time.

Buffy had to wonder when she became such a self-righteous bitch, and then she had to wonder if she had always been one and just hadn't seen it until now. Because Faith had done nothing in the years since the fall of The First to even remotely indicate she was taking a trip back over to the dark side.

It was time to let it all go, she knew it wouldn't be easy nor would it happen overnight, but she would try and with that decision Buffy felt some of the anger and the hurt she had been holding onto all these years start to fade away.

It was up to her to take that first step and now was a good a time as any. She took a deep breath, she could do this, she was a big enough person to admit when she was wrong or at least she hoped she was. "I'm sorry… you're… you're… _you're right_…" She paused at the raised eyebrow and skeptical look Faith was giving her. She knew if she looked at either Giles or Willow they'd have that look too. "Don't look so surprised Faith, I can actually admit when I'm wrong. Well… most of the time. Not the point… I apologize… to all of you; my behavior was out of line, way out of line. I really am sorry."

Faith just nodded at Buffy, she wanted to believe Buffy she truly did. But after all that had happened between them over the years, it wasn't going to be that simple, it didn't however stop that tiny bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, they might be able to finally put the past firmly behind them where it belonged.

What to do now, and apparently since everyone was looking at her, it was her decision to make. "I think, maybe for now, since I need a long bath, new clothes and possibly a few stitches, we should table this meeting until tomorrow." Everyone stared at her, mouths hanging open like the village-Fae-idiots over the fact that she was actually making a joke about what had just happened. Faith smirked at them, so she was a little beaten up, a little worse for the wear, didn't mean she had to lose her sense of humor. Besides, she felt lighter than… well… ever… than she had her whole life. More had been accomplished in the last five minutes, on so many levels, than had been over the last ten years, Faith couldn't even count them all. "So… let's say back here at eleven, that is if Hale can accommodate us again."

"Eleven's good, either here or in the gym where there's less furniture that can get damaged." Hale winked at Faith and laughed, because they were now all staring at him in the same way they had just been staring at Faith. What could he say, he had the same warped sense of humor Faith did.

Faith smiled back at Hale, they were going to get along just fine! "Okay, then, we can decide that tomorrow, gym or here, depending on Buffy's mood. So tomorrow then, unless of course there is there anything else, Giles?"

"Yes… um no well… actually I feel anything I might have to say will be anti-climactic after what Buffy just did." Giles too had that same warped sense of humor; for the most part however, he kept it well hidden throughout the years.

"Giles, you didn't…"

"Indeed I did Buffy and let me say you and I will be having a long chat when we return home." Giles told her in his fatherly voice.

Buffy turned and looked at Kennedy, "Stop snickering, this isn't funny! And Giles I'm too old for one of those chats!"

"We shall see about that Buffy…" They heard Giles murmur right before he stepped into the portal that would take him and the others back to Cleveland.

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	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter – 12**

"Come to lecture me too?"

It was said with such a heavy sigh and so dramatically that Willow almost laughed. If this were any other time, and today was any other day, Willow would have laughed. There was, however, nothing even remotely funny about what happened today. Buffy had almost crossed a line today, that once crossed could never be uncrossed and Willow knew that intimately.

Giles had ripped Buffy a new one and Willow had heard it all. She had been playing hall monitor, keeping all the nosy nellies away when they had come running, all wanting to know what could make the composed man raise his voice and at Buffy no less. She hadn't wanted to listen in, but she had been given very little choice in the matter. To say she was surprised to hear Giles actually yell at Buffy was an understatement of such proportions that Willow didn't think there was a word in any dictionary in the world to describe it.

"Well?" Buffy asked impatiently when Willow said nothing. She really was in no mood to listen to anyone else tonight. She was still reeling from everything Giles had said to her. Hell, he hadn't even given her a chance to defend herself. In fact, he said point blank, there was nothing she could say that would justify what she had almost done today.

He had read her the riot act, up, down, sideways and any other way possible. He was tired of this animosity, this hatred she had towards Faith. It was he told her, misplaced, old and tired. He wasn't trying to belittle or downgrade what Faith had done, but she was trying to atone for her actions and it was long past due that Buffy gave her that chance. Gave her the opportunity to apologize, to talk through what had happened. That conversation between them was ten years overdue, it was time for Buffy to grow up and put the past where it belonged in the past.

Giles let her know just how disappointed in her he was; he thought Buffy was better than her actions today. Thought she had learned after all these years, no one was perfect, everyone had things they regretted. All of them had done things they were ashamed of and all of them, including her, had done things that in one way or another had brought harm to others. And that Giles told her was all he had to say.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing." Willow sat down on the porch next to Buffy, and handed her the fresh beer she brought out with her.

"As if you care," Buffy hissed at Willow, she felt betrayed by Willow and Giles. She wasn't going to let it go so easily.

Willow opened her mouth, an apology ready to spill from her lips, then she clamped her jaw shut firmly. She wasn't that young teenager anymore that Buffy had met all those years ago. The nerdy, insecure, awkward geek, who would have done just about anything to be friends with the popular, blonde cheerleader at Sunnydale High. Those days were long gone, the days when she idolized Buffy for being the Slayer and for just being Buffy. The days she was envious that Buffy had been chosen, was special in a way no one else in the world was.

The years though had shown her that while, yes, Buffy was special, so too was she. So too was Xander, Giles, Dawn, Anya and so many others they had met along the way. Special in their own right, in their own way, they had all been given gifts, some supernatural, some not, and none of them was any more special than the other. They were all in this fight together, come what may.

"You know I do."

"Could've fooled me," there was an accusation in Buffy tone, she was like a dog with a bone and she wouldn't let it go. She knew she was wrong, wasn't going to stop her though. She was too used to always being right, to always having everyone fall down on her side, to them always seeing things her way.

"So what… letting you either seriously injure Faith, or more likely kill her would have been a better way to show you I care?"

"That's not what I meant." Buffy answered.

"Well, what did you mean then? Cause you could have killed someone today, you do realize that don't you? That alone should make you think twice about all this anger, this bitterness you have against Faith. You should be scared right now, not pissed off at me because I stopped you."

"I am scared! Scared that two of the people I trust most in the world are siding with Faith over me!" Buffy yelled despite the fact that she knew if the situation had been reversed she would have stopped Willow from doing something as stupid as what she had almost done today.

"She was right, you were wrong Buffy, it's just that simple." Willow told her softly.

"Fine then, side with that murdering scum." Buffy snarled and regretted her words the second she saw Willow's face fall.

"You forget I'm a murdering scum too." Again Willow spoke softly, while she struggled to keep all the emotions associated with Tara and Warren at bay. Even after all these years, the pain of losing Tara and what she had done to Warren was still fresh as if it had only happened yesterday.

"It's not the same, you and Faith you're not the same… Not the same thing." Buffy tried lamely. She had a big mouth sometimes and she was, she decided, a self-righteous bitch. Giles, Faith all of them were right about that.

"No you're right, it's not the same…" Willow began slowly and took a deep breath. She had only ever told one other person this. "What I did was worse than what Faith did."

"What? No… you were grieving… you weren't in your right mind… you just lost Tara…" Not only was she a self-righteous bitch, but apparently she was a babbling idiot as well.

"So what that makes it okay? I was _grieving, _so it was okay to hunt Warren down like an animal and skin him alive?" Willow asked harshly, not really wanting or needing an answer. "…And then, because I was _grieving, _and…" Willow made quote marks with her fingers as she spoke, "…not in my _right mind_, it was also okay to try and end the world?"

"Well… um… no…" Buffy lamely started, "… Faith she tried to end the world too and…"

"You're right what I did and what Faith did, whatever our reasons, wasn't right. We're both going to have to live with it for the rest of our lives. We're both going to spend whatever days the Goddess grants us trying to redeem ourselves, to atone for everything we both did. And we both would trade our own lives to change what we've done." Chew on that for a bit Buffy, Willow thought to herself. They had never really talked about what Willow had done; she was forgiven almost instantly by everyone, unlike Faith who still to this day was still trying to get Buffy to forgive her.

"Willow…" Buffy started only to have Willow shake her head at her.

"For the record Buffy, Faith didn't try to end the world that was the Mayor." Willow corrected Buffy. This wasn't about her; this was about Buffy and Faith. Maybe someday she would sit and truly talk about Tara and Warren with Buffy, but today wasn't that day. She had talked about all of this with Faith on their trip from LA to Sunnydale, and then again over the time they had spent working together to defeat the First. As far as Willow knew, Faith had never broken her confidence, and Willow had never told anyone about her conversations with Faith or broken her confidence either.

"She was working for him." Buffy pointed out, a little bit relieved not to have to talk about what happened all those years ago. Then again, she realized that was another conversation she had put off that she shouldn't have.

"Yes, she was. But if it wasn't for Faith we'd all be snake food right now." _Heh!_ Willow thought to herself, nibble on that Buffy. This was an argument Willow was determined to win. "So no matter what you may think, she didn't want to see us all dead."

"She held a knife to your neck, she threatened to kill you. I don't understand how you can sit here and defend her, or trust her for that matter." Buffy truly didn't understand, or was it more that she didn't want to. She wasn't sure anymore, truth be told she hadn't been for a long time. If she looked too deeply she might see herself in Faith's reflection and that scared the hell out of her.

"And here I sit, alive and well. If Faith wanted me dead then, I would be dead. If she wanted any of us dead, we'd be dead now. She had plenty of chances, but never followed through on one of them. She was alone with Dawn too many times to count after she started working for the Mayor. Angel should be dead, er dust, yet he's not. She shot him with a wooden crossbow bolt through the shoulder; why not just shoot him through the heart? Didn't you ever wonder why? She could have killed any one of us yet she didn't, not before the coma and not after when she was in your body and it would have been so easy."

Willow turned sideways a little so she could look Buffy in the eyes before she continued. "Whether you want to see it or not, whether you want to believe it or not, Faith's changed. If you'd just look, you'd see that, and if you can't or won't see it, then believe me, Xander, Dawn, Angel, Giles all of us when we tell you that she's changed. That she's on our side and that she'd sooner die than hurt us or anyone else ever again."

Buffy had no smart retort, no witty answer, no answer at all to any of that. It was the truth, plain and simple and she knew it. She had known it for a long time. The time had come to let it go, the time had come to heal the hurts from the past. The time had come, not to forget, but to forgive, to move on from the past and into the future. Buffy just wished it could be that simple, but she knew it wasn't.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kennedy and Willow arrived first at the Ash's compound the next morning. Buffy and Giles would be following shortly, there had been a minor incident with a few of the girls earlier and they were just finishing up. Giles could have left Buffy to deal with it on her own but he didn't trust her to actually show up once she was done.

Kennedy headed over towards Kenzi, Bo and Faith, while Willow grabbed them both a cup of coffee from the breakfast bar that was set up.

"So, what's the verdict?" Kenzi asked, referring to the bruised ribs Bo had given Faith while they were sparring earlier. Faith had needed to release some tension before Buffy and gang showed up, so Bo had suggested they spar for a little bit. Unerringly Bo had kicked Faith in the exact same spot Buffy had tagged her yesterday.

"She'll live." Bo answered for Faith, a smirk on her face.

"It's too bad she can't heal the same way you do, Bo." At the look Bo gave Faith, Kenzi couldn't resist adding, "You tried didn't you? No wonder you were gone so long…"

"Kenzi…" Bo growled playfully, then smirked at Faith again, who turned beat red. "Never hurts to try… didn't work though… guess it's only us Fae types that can heal that way." Bo laughed at the look Faith was giving her, they really had tried.

"…And exactly how did Bo try to heal you Faith…" Kennedy asked, ignoring the fact that she had just walked up and rudely included herself in a private conversation. She absolutely adored her Slayer hearing.

"She's a… um… and she heals…" Faith tried, she really did, and then she started to silently curse the blush that was slowly creeping up her neck and face.

"Why is Faith blushing, Kennedy?" Willow asked as she joined them. She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing, though she was dying to know what could actually make Faith blush. "Faith?"

Just then Buffy and Giles came through the portal and Faith saw her ticket out of explaining to them why she was blushing and exactly how it was that Bo healed. "B, like to talk to you alone first before we get started."

"Don't think you're getting off that easy Faith." Willow told Faith as she headed over towards Buffy. "I'm not leaving here until you tell me what the hell could possibly make you blush like that or should I say… who?" Willow looked at Bo and actually did laugh, the woman had the devil in her eyes and she knew Bo loved seeing Faith squirm just a little.

As Faith made her way over to Buffy, she filed away in her mind to remember to avoid Willow as much as possible today. She motioned for Buffy to follow her over to the other side of the room where they could talk in private. She sat down on the edge of one of the loungers and leaned forward. She waited for Buffy to sit down opposite her and for her to look up.

Faith was struck by how tired and slightly beaten Buffy looked. She didn't remember seeing that weary look on her face yesterday and instinctively she knew that it was a look Buffy had been wearing for more than just a day. She didn't like it on her and Faith truly wished she could do something to make that look go away. If things between them were different she might have been able to, but they weren't no matter how much she wished they were.

"Look, what happened yesterday, happened. It was fucked up and it can't happen again. I know you've got issues with me, you probably always will. But you need to put them aside, we need to work together to beat whatever is coming. I know you owe me nothing, it's not like we're friends or anything but I need your help with this…"

"We were once…" Buffy said softly.

"We were once what, B?" Faith asked confused.

"Friends. We we're once upon a time, friends."

"No B, we were a lot of things, but friends, wasn't one of them."

It was said without any rancor or accusation, it was the plain truth and Buffy realized that Faith was right. They were never friends and pretending that they were all those years ago would change nothing. They stared at each other for the longest time and they saw many things in each other's face and eyes. Things they had never seen before and things they most likely might never see again.

Faith shook herself out of the trance they had seemed to fall into, "Like I said, I need your help with this, whatever this is. So do you think, at least for now you can put everything else aside and just work with me, work with us?"

Buffy was a little stunned; this Faith was completely different than the one that lived in her head. She knew if she hadn't promised Giles to listen to what Faith had to say if she wanted to talk, that despite what had happened yesterday she wouldn't have given Faith the chance to talk to her like she was. She would have cut her off or dismissed her before the first few words came out of her mouth. Right now, she was glad she had made that promise to Giles, right now a new world was opening up to her.

"We need to talk about everything." Buffy blurted out, before she had a chance to think about. Before she fell right back into the same old Buffy hates Faith mode. Because right now she might be open but she knew it wouldn't last, something would set her off and they'd be back to the same old song and dance. She was going to try to change things between them, she was determined, but she knew better than most change didn't always come easily.

This time it was Faith who was stunned; she didn't believe it would be this easy. Then again, she knew it wouldn't be, thing very rarely were. But she was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Yeah we do, we have for a long time, but right now isn't the time. There are more important things we need to be doing, we'll talk as soon as this is all over if you're still willing, that is."

Buffy laughed, seemed the shoe was on the other foot. She wanted to talk and Faith who had been trying to talk to her for years didn't, it was too funny.

"Don't see how any of this is funny B."

"You sounded just like me, with the more important things, talk later line."

Faith arched an eyebrow at Buffy, smiled at her and it was probably the most genuine smile she had given Buffy in a very long time.

"You're right and putting off the talking as we both know doesn't help anything. So how about we talk after the meeting if you're still up for it?"

"I'll be up for it…" Buffy paused, she needed to be honest, "Can't promise I'll still be as nice as I'm being now though. But I do want to try and work things out between us Faith, I'm tired, tired of being angry with you, tired of carrying this around."

"Me too Buffy, me too."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Faith and Buffy rejoined the rest of the assembled group back over on the couches after quickly getting themselves some coffee and donuts. Buffy's head was filled with a thousand different thoughts. Replaying over all the times she had been around Faith and how badly she had treated her, almost from the first time they met. Faith wasn't the only one who had things in her past that she regretted; Buffy had her fair share as well.

"Are we ready to begin now ladies," Giles looked first to Faith then Buffy who nodded at him. "I trust there will be no repeat of yesterday." This time he aimed his Watcher-Father resolve face at Bo as well. When he was sure they were all on the same page, he turned his attention to Trick. "Patrick, am I correct in assuming that somehow the Fae are connected to this prophesy?"

"Yes, we are connected, in more ways then you've imagined. We've been connected to the Slayer since the beginning. The power the Shadow Men gave to the First Slayer did not come from a demon. That power wasn't actually stolen, not how you think. The power that makes you a Slayer was always there. The Shadow Men, I believe, managed to somehow contain the power that makes all of you Slayers. There was never meant to be just one Slayer, there was meant to be an army of them. Fae history confirms this, though we did not call them Slayers. A long time ago there was an army of women; they were led by a Fae. A Fae who was said to have special abilities, abilities that up until yesterday, I, and all the Fae thought was a myth. Though she herself is not a myth, she was as real as you and I.

"When the earth was…."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_…young it was shared equally by Humans, Fae and pure Demons. Common belief is that all three were created from the same source and were one species that over time naturally evolved into separate races._

_From the time of their inceptions all the races were magical beings. They had abilities both passive and active. Their magic came from the earth, the heavens and even the hells. What was and is still common among them is that they all feed from the chi of not only their own race, but the other two races as well._

_During the fledgling years of not just the earth but of the races, three sisters were born to House Tuatha de Dannan, one of the most ancient houses of the Fae. They were unique; between them they possessed all the abilities of every type of Fae. Throughout history the sisters would become known by many names, the most common being Anu, Babd and Macha. Together they came to symbolize the aspects of Maiden, Mother and Crone. As the mythology surrounding them grew, they were often referred to as the Triple Goddesses, the Wyrd Sisters, the Furies and even The Fates._

_Centuries passed and as the race grew and thrived, they became curious about the world that sustained them and they began to explore and branch out from the small villages they lived in. It was inevitable the races would discover each other. It was also inevitable that among each race there would be those who thought themselves superior to the other races and sought to take what was not theirs._

_At first it was only minor raiding upon the tribes of the other races, but over time it escalated until all three races found themselves in an all-out war for dominance. None were spared, many died and many would continue to die in this war of greed and hate. It was believed by many that this war would not end until two of the races were completely annihilated from existence._

_A century passed and still the war raged between the races, just as fiercely as when it began. The pleas for peace from those of all races were ignored until one woman, a Fae, rose up to champion their cause. Her name was Morríganof the House of Tuatha de Dannan. _

_Morríganhad risen up through the ranks of the united armies of the Fae. Her prowess on the battlefield was unmatched by any man or woman, Fae, Human or Demon and she became known as the 'Phantom Queen'. Her lineage could be traced back as a direct blood descendant to each of the three sisters individually. _

_She never shared with anyone her reasons for turning her back on the war for dominance. It was told she had simply ridden from the bloody battlefield, leaving her battle standard and troops behind without a word. Rumors circulated that she had died soon after. Two years after her sudden desertion she appeared on another battlefield flying a battle standard with the symbol of The Triquetra upon it, a small army of women with her._

_In her hands was a pole-axe the like of which had never been seen before. It resembled a battle axe with a red steel-head its deadly blade edged in silver. The handle a long steel bar with nails stamped along it and reaching down was a brown haft that had a simple wooden stake below it, connected via an assembly of metal spikes. The stake was sharper and stronger than basic wood; and those on the battlefield close enough to her realized it had been created from the tree of a Badibat._

_She rode boldly out onto the battlefield, strategically placing herself in the middle between the two warring factions that were waiting on the sound of the horn to call the beginning of the battle. Her voice rang out loud and clear across the field, "It is time to lay down our weapons. Time for us to unite, be one again as we were in the beginning. Lay aside your hatred and fear and embrace each other as sisters and brothers. The time for peace has come."_

_Both the leader of the Fae and the Demon army spat upon the ground and laughed at her. What could one woman and her small army of a bare thousand do against their thousands? _

_"This is your answer?" At the nods from both Generals, a look of regret crossed her face. With a long hard look at the Demon General and one filled with sorrow at the Fae General that she had fought side by side, and bled with in what seemed like another lifetime, she turned her stallion and returned to her small army to await the call to battle._

_The horn sounded and neither she nor her army was surprised as both the Fae and Demon army bared down upon them. She may not have been able to unite them in peace, but she had united them in their goal to remove her from the field. But both she and those in her army knew that the truce between the two opposing faction would only last until they destroyed their common enemy, her, and then this war of greed, fear and hatred would continue once more._

_With a war cry of - 'Ni ceart go cur le cheile'_ - _There is no strength without unity, Morrígan and her army of a thousand women engaged the Fae and the Demons. They cut a bloody path through the opposing armies, ignoring the foot soldiers; their focus was solely on its leaders. They moved as if one, as if they were extensions of each other. They reached the Demon General first, when he refused to yield, Morrígan spun her weapon, and plunged the stake deep into his heart. She then took out his Second-In-Command, and his First Lieutenant. _

_As one she and her army turned and cut a path to the Fae General. Again her plea to yield was denied and with a heavy heart she removed her ex-comrade-in-arms head from his shoulders. All those upon the battlefield watched in amazement as a wall of fire sent towards her by the Fae Battlemage's shimmered then dissipated as soon as it hit her. More than one solider, Fae and Demon alike threw down their weapons and fled the battle ground at the sight. This was impossible; it was as if the hands of the gods had protected her._

_Repeatedly over the course of the long battle she offered quarter to all that would but just lay down their weapons and true to her word neither she nor those in her army cut down any who accepted the offer. Those that did not were cut down without mercy. It was the first battle waged in the war for peace, a peace unfortunately that would only be won by the spilling of blood._

_The tale of how Morrígan and her army of a bare thousand won that first battle against the Fae and the Demon army that outnumbered them by thousands traveled quickly through the camps of Fae, Demon and Humans. From that day forward she became known as __**The Triune**__._

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Holy shit…" Hale uttered under his breath, cutting off Trick. He was dumbfounded, amazed and from the looks of it so was his sister Val.

Part way through Trick's tale it dawned on Hale where this was going and exactly what it was that Trick was going to tell them. Everything that happened yesterday suddenly made sense, and if what Trick was thinking was true there was going to be a shit storm the likes of which had not been seen in Fae-Town in centuries. Big Bad or not, the shit was going to hit the fan and the Fae would never be the same again, hell nobody would.

Hale realized that everyone was staring at him since he had rudely interrupted Trick. He wanted to squirm in his seat but his snooty upbringing had taught him better than that. It would be undignified and reflect badly upon his family. Though for the life of him he never did understand that and as a child he believed it was something his father had made up just to keep him in line. Appearances were everything to his family, most especially to his father, just like they were to all of the old _'Royal' _Fae families.

"Hale is everything alright?" Trick inquired, his question laced with hidden meaning. He wondered if Hale was going to let him finish his Fae history lesson or if he would prove to be his usual impulsive self and just blurt out the ending.

Hale's first impulse had been to blurt out everything he was thinking, but he caught himself. He was sure that Trick had his reasons for not filling them in yesterday or later after the incident. Then again he just might have assumed that both he and Val would put two and two together. Either way he was the Ash and at some point he knew he had to start acting like it, and today was just as good a day as any to start.

"No, I apologize, I just need a minute to make a phone call. I forgot to cancel an appointment with one of the Ambassadors, wouldn't want to start a war over something as silly as that." Hale got up from his chair and realized everyone but his sister and Trick were staring at him with wide-eyed concern. "I'm just kidding about the war." He chuckled and walked over to the other side of the room and pretended to make his call.

Everyone took the impromptu break as a signal to refresh their coffee and grab some more picky breakfast treats. Very little was said, each of them had too many thoughts shooting off in different directions to even consider doing small talk. When they were all reseated Trick restarted his tale.

"…The honorary title…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_...was given to Morrígan by her army; they thought it a fitting title for the one who flew the Triquetra as a battle standard. The Triquetra, encompasses many meanings, spirit-mind-body, past-present-future, creation-reservation-destruction, thought-feeling- motion, mother-maiden-crone. The circle around the Triquetra represents the infinite, eternity and protection. A spiritual unity, that cannot and shall not be broken._

_The meaning of the word Triquetra, is Trinity. The pattern repeats itself, three sisters, three aspects, three races that once were one._

_Morrígan was the embodiment of all three sisters, she was one but three. The weapon she carried upon the battlefield that first time was given to her by the three sisters. They had created the weapon centuries earlier; and stories were told that they had foreseen this war between the races._

_It is said when Morrígan held it in her hands for the first time, the power that was in her expanded and grew a thousand-fold. She claimed to feel connected to others, similar to her, warriors, healers, seers, mystics and not just of the Fae, but Humans and Demons as well. She claimed she was being 'fed' with the chi of all these untold connections. _

_At first many doubted this claim but over the course of the next few years, women, Fae, Human, and Demon alike began to show up at her camps, all claiming to not only have felt her call, but also the connection between them. The women in her army became known by many names over the course of history, Valkyrie, Amazon, Shieldmaiden to name a few. _

_Morrígan herself though was unique among them, unlike any Fae, Demon or Human. Morrígan fed not just from the chi of all races; she also fed on the chi from all living things on the earth, the heavens and the hells. Her feeding caused no harm to any, it was not meant to, that was not her purpose. The Triune was the defender, the protector, not the destroyer. _

_It was also said that when The Triune held the weapon in her hands she could 'feed' all those connected to her, not only her chi but theirs as well to each other, strengthening them like they strengthened her. It was said too with the weapon in hand she could strip permanently from any she chose their abilities and that it would reside within the weapon until it found its place within the next called in line to inherit it._

_However The Triune was the only one among them that even without the weapon in hand could feed on the chi of the other women connected to her at will, and add their strength to hers._

_But what made her the most unique was she was the only Fae of her kind. Her 'special' ability was unlike anything ever seen before by the Fae. It was said she was immune to any and all Fae power and no Fae could feed upon her chi without her consent. _

_Morrígan was the first of The Triunes, Brigid the second, and Scáthach was the last known Triune. Each was a direct descendant of not just each other but of the Three Sisters. Both Brigid and Scáthach were said to possess all the same abilities as Morrígan, including the ability to stop any other Fae from feeding on their chi. _

_Brigid carried on the war for peace after Morrígan died in her sleep one night years after her first appearance upon the war ravaged field in the infamous first battle for peace. It was rumored, though never proven that Morrígan had been poisoned. After Brigid was killed in battle, Scáthach continued to carry on the fight to bring peace among the races, until finally even the warmongers realized that no one would ever truly win this war. Finally centuries after it had begun a guarded truce was called by all of those in power. Of course there were still small factions from amongst all the races that didn't agree with the peace treaty, and for them the war continued only now it was fought in secret._

_Scáthach retired, having seen enough bloodshed to last her many lifetimes to the Isle of Skye to Dún Scáith, The Fortress of Shadows. She built a school there and trained other young women, Fae, Human, and Demon, that she claimed would one day be part of the connection she shared with those in her army. _

_Some seventy-five years after Scáthach retired to the Isle of Skye… _

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"…Scáthach, the women who served under her and the young women in training all disappeared without a trace.

"The three sisters, Anu, Babd and Macha and the Fae abilities they possessed were real.

"Morrígan_, _Brigid,Scáthach and the army of women they led, their prowess upon the battlefield as they fought for peace, were all real.

"The school that Scáthach created and trained the young at was real.

"Dún Scáith, The Fortress of Shadows on the Isle of Skye was real.

"But…

"…a Fae with the abilities each of The Triune was said to possess and the weapon they carried had been regulated to the realm of things myths are made of. But I no longer believe they are a myth...

"I believe that weapon **_is_** the Scythe…

"And I believe that Faith **_is_** The Triune…"

The room was deathly quiet after Trick stopped speaking. They were all staring at Faith and she had to use all her willpower not to flee. Kenzi because she was Kenzi, decided to break the tension.

"And on that note, let me warmly welcome you to Fae-Wonderland… To my left is the Mad-Hatter," Kenzi pointed to Trick, "…the Queen of Hearts," Kenzi pointed to Bo," and last but not least is Alice," Kenzi pointed to Faith, "…they'll be your hosts during your time spent with us down here in the rabbit hole."

"Kenzi!"

"BoBo!"

"BoBo? Are you a demented Fae clown?" Willow wanted to laugh at the incredulous look Bo was giving her.

"See Kenzi, I told you," Bo glared at her best friend.

"Like I said before BoBo, the truth hurts…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Buffy was too shell-shocked to do anything but stare blankly at the wall. There was too much going on in her head right now; she was having a hard time sorting it all out. Trick and Giles were talking quietly next to her, while the rest of them bickered back and forth; even Willow and Kennedy were joining in on the bantering.

This was unbelievable; they were acting like this was nothing out of the ordinary. If Buffy hadn't been so stunned and had stopped to actually think about it, she would have realized that in a very real way it wasn't out of the ordinary for any of them.

"WAIT! Wait… wait… wait..." Buffy shouted, coming out of her stupor when she realized everyone, including Giles was turning a blind eye to the herd of white elephants in the room. "Are we going to just ignore the fact that Trick just told us that not only is Faith this almost indestructible being that could take all the Slayers powers away, but that she's not even human, that she's Fae?"

So much for starting new, Faith should have known it wouldn't be that easy and this had to be the shortest _I'll give it the old college try in history_. "First, I'm not indestructible, and second I have no intention of taking anyone's power Buffy, I wouldn't even know how. And I don't like this any better than you do. You think I jumped up and down with joy when I found out that I'm not even human that I'm Fae…" _Shit - _that didn't come out right, "No offense to anyone… And Jesus I don't want all this power, I'm terrified of having all this power and I'm the last person on the earth that should have this kind of power!" Would it ever end? Would there ever be a time in her life where she didn't live in fear of slipping back to the dark side?

"I didn't mean…" Buffy started and stopped, she had a choice to make, she could get up and leave or she could really try. Yes, she knew that just yesterday she hated Faith with a passion that had no beginning and no end. But she had spent most of last night thinking and dwelling on it all. Going over and over in head to the point of insanity everything that had happened between them, the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. While she might not have it all figured out, she knew two things for sure, the blame for the way things were between them lay squarely on her shoulders. The second thing she knew was if she walked away now, there would be no coming back, not for her, not for Faith.

"Oh hell I don't know what I mean anymore or feel for that matter. Just yesterday I wanted to rip your face off and a part of me still does. Right now I'm trying not to do that, and quite frankly it's taking everything I've got not to. But it sure as hell isn't easy. This story Trick told us is incredible, but it's also the stuff fairytales are made of. I'm not sure I can believe all this, I'm not sure I want to. Put yourself in my shoes Faith. Tell me given our history, given everything that's happened in the past that you wouldn't be asking yourself the same questions."

Faith considered what Buffy was saying and she realized that she hadn't been attacking her personally exactly; she was just trying to make sense of it all. Much like Faith was herself. In view of the fact that Buffy hadn't exploded or went back to the whole _this is a set-up and Faith is evil_ scenario Faith had to believe that Buffy was truly making an effort to work with them and give her a second chance. She was having a hard time with all of this herself, why would it be so unbelievable that Buffy would too?

"You're right; I am asking myself the same questions. So…Trick?"

"There is only a very slight difference between Fae DNA and Human DNA and, truth be told, there is only a slight difference in Demon DNA too. It is so miniscule most human doctors wouldn't notice it. If Lauren were here she could show you the difference, but she's not. I haven't yet personally looked into Faith's family line, we didn't have the time." Trick turned his gaze to Buffy, "In spite of what you may think, I only told Faith about being Fae right before you got here yesterday. I never even told her about being The Triune, I didn't tell anyone until just now…"

Val and Hale both nodded their heads at Buffy. Hale was still a little shell-shocked, Val on the other hand was past that. Granted they had found out yesterday that Faith was Fae, but neither of them had put two and two together and had come up with _three_. They had forgotten about the myth, and even now they were having a hard time believing it, even though they had seen the proof with their own eyes.

"I just don't understand it. Faith's power is no different than mine or Kennedy's or any other Slayer for that matter. I would think someone would have noticed if she was super Slayer. In fact she isn't even as strong as me, so this just doesn't make sense." Though now that Buffy thought about it, Faith shouldn't have been able to have gotten up so quickly or so easily from that blow Buffy had delivered to her yesterday. Nor should she have been able to throw Buffy across the room like a rag doll.

"And she was the same as you, right up until Willow cast her spell to activate all the Slayers and Faith held the Scythe in her hands for the first time during the battle with The First. It was then she felt the first connection to the other Slayers, but she isn't the only one that feels it now. You all feel it, don't you?" Both Buffy and Kennedy nodded, and curiously enough so did Willow. "But she truly didn't become _The Triune, _until that day in the warehouse when she slayed those five Slayer-vampires and she consciously 'fed' from all the other Slayers in a last ditch effort to save both her life and Bo's. For her it was like a Fae's second coming of age. I would bet my life that Faith is both Fae and The Triune."

"Buffy," Giles began gently, "if you recall Faith has always said she could feel you, and you had always said you could feel her. It was similar to how you knew vampires were near, but without the unpleasantness. Further, you didn't feel this connection with Kendra, this 'Slayer connection' only began after Faith was called. What you didn't know was about a year after the fall of The First, Faith came to me and she told me that she could feel all the Slayers, not just you. That she also felt stronger, healed faster, and she has ever since Willow did the spell and most especially after she held the Scythe."

"And you never thought to tell me about this. I mean I'm only the one in charge of the Slayers."

"Given your animosity towards Faith, I thought it best not to tell you."

There was really nothing Buffy could say to that, it was after all the truth, she wouldn't have told her either.

"We can discuss this more if you'd like Buffy." Trick offered graciously.

Buffy just shook her head at Trick, she'd let it drop for now, she had a lot to think about first. She was at war with herself, she wanted to trust them, she had no reason not too really. But Faith on the other hand, she had trusted her before and look what had happened. She found herself once again standing at a crossroad, it had only been less than a few minutes since she had made the promise to herself to try and move beyond their past. Was she really going to backpedal that fast? No, she decided, she wasn't, she would give them all the benefit of the doubt, trust in Giles and Willow's implicit trust in Faith, but she would keep her eyes wide open while doing it.

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"So assuming that each Slayer is born with their abilities, I would jump to the conclusion that the Shadow Men either figured out how to take it from them or forced Scáthach to do it for them. Both knowingly and on purpose, or accidently when the Shadow Men did this they killed them all, either of which would explain their disappearance into thin air."

"That would be my guess as well, whether it was the Shadow Men's intention to actually kill every one of them is something I don't think we'll ever know. Somehow I think they figured out how to hold everyone's abilities captive within the Scythe. Further they managed to figure out how to only draw out an individual set of attributes they wanted and put it into a human girl. Superhuman senses, strength, agility, resilience and speed."

"Yes, yes it makes sense. The Shadow Men wanted the ultimate weapon working for them, not for peace. This child would only know what they taught her, that demons and even Fae were inherently evil and it was her job to terminate their existence. The Guardian told Buffy that they had forged the Scythe for the final battle, though after everything you've told us, I don't believe she was referring to the battle with The First. I believe she was referring to the battle between the three races."

"Which would lead us back to the three sisters, while I don't think The Guardians were the original three sisters, I do believe they may possibly have been descendants of each sister tasked with keeping the Scythe and the abilities or essences within it safe until they could figure out a way to reverse the spell the Shadow Men cast."

"Given everything, I cannot help think that whoever is leading this band of Slayers turned vampire is one of those women that the Shadow Men stole the power from. It's the only thing that would explain why they seem intent on getting both the Scythe and Faith. It would certainly be helpful to have access to all the Council's books, but I'm afraid there is little left after the explosion at the headquarters. Stupid bloody wankers, they refused my repeated requests to scan all the books into the computers, though now I understand why. Computers can be hacked, unlike books."

"It is possible that we have copies of those books here in the library."

"Library?"

"G, the library here makes the Council's library look like a newsstand."

"Indeed. Shall we go take a look then?" Even from behind his glasses, they could see his eyes dancing in delight at the thought of all those books.

"Trick just warning you, once G sees that place it's going to be impossible to ever get him to leave and do me a favor make sure he remembers to breathe when he gets his first look."

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After they stopped rolling on the floor with laughter after hearing Giles excited shout of - _Good Lord -_ followed by Tricks frantic - _Breathe, breathe_, _you need to breathe - _they all decided to take a break and have a drink. What the hell they were young, they could still all die tomorrow, and their world had been turned upside down not once, but twice in the span of less than two days. Why not have a drink… or two… or three…

"So you're a fairy?" Kennedy asked bluntly, there really was no beating around the bush about it.

"Trust-Fund, meet pot and kettle."

"What… oh, no… I didn't mean that… heh… it works though, you're a twofer Fairy, as in Fae and gay."

"Well aren't you clever… And I'm not exactly gay per-say…" Faith avoided addressing the whole Fae thing she was still trying to wrap her head around it.

"She's like Bo, they think teams are stupid. And before you ask, I'm strictly dickly."

Both Hale and Val started choking on their drinks, they both mumbled something about going and rescuing Trick and took off for the library. Buffy wished she could join them, but she knew she shouldn't, if she wanted to make things right with Faith and get past the doubts that were plaguing her, she couldn't run from her every time she was near.

"Really, you think teams are stupid? When was the last time you hopped on some stud?"

"Ummm… it was… you know what I don't need to tell you that, it's none of your business!"

"It was Robin wasn't it?"

"Fuck you, Trust-Fund."

"Not unless you want to get turned into a toad by Willow. And see I was right Fae and gay." Kennedy looked at Bo, her gaydar had gone off the charts when they first met her, "What about you Bo, when was the last time you hopped that train."

Kenzi started laughing, even Faith let out a snort of laughter.

"Not funny you two, really not," Bo tried not to laugh, she really did, didn't work. "Okay it is funny."

"I don't get what's so funny," Willow looked between the three women.

"Bo's hopped over that fence so many times they cut a hole in it for her. Now she can just run back and forth from side to side. Dude there's been times she stood in the middle and pulled one from each team at the same time. There was the Fury and her…"

"Kenzi!" Bo snarled, then like Faith had earlier started cursing the blush creeping over her neck and face.

Kenzi pointed at Bo, "Succubus… Remember?"

"I remember… it's just… we just met them, Succubus or not, it's kinda personal…"

_Succubus… Succubus… I know I read about them in one of Giles books… they… they… _"OH MY GOD, you're a demon who _sleeps, _you know as in _sleeps, _only not so much with the _sleeping, _kind of _sleep_ with sleeping men?" Buffy rushed out, her eyes practically popping out of her head.

"Not a demon, I'm Fae, there's a difference. Whatever you read forget it… and wow déjà vu, this is scary. I had almost the same exact conversation with Faith. You two need to stop reading the same books."

"So what, you don't sleep with men…" Buffy laughed, "… and that came out all wrong…" She couldn't believe she was having this conversation with Bo, when only yesterday she was ready to rip Bo's head off, it was weird, but she was going to let the weirdness of it all go for now. She would have thought it was even weirder if she knew that Bo was thinking just about the same thing.

"Men, woman, I'm an equal opportunity Succubus. I feed off Fae or Human, and probably could off Demons too. Not sure haven't had one… in any case I feed off their chi, specific type of chi to survive… to heal though it's takes little more than just feeding on their chi…" Good Gods, you'd think after all this time she'd have figured out a way to explain this, then again, the Fae already knew how she fed, how she healed, it was only the non-Fae that she ever had to explain this to.

"Feed, what do you mean feed, how…"

"Well I sort of… oh hell it's just easier to show you…"

"Don't even think about it Tinkerbell." Faith growled possessively.

"Party pooper," Though Bo never had any intention of kissing Buffy like she had Faith. Her intention was to kiss Faith to show them, though she had to admit Faith's reaction to the idea of her kissing Buffy made her feel slightly giddy. "Fine then, you explain it to them Faith."

"Fine I will." There was that damn blush again, "It's like this, she sort of takes… um pulls… no sucks… not really… well… she sort of can do it that way too… um… well she draws the chi out of you."

"We got that part; the question was how she feds, how she gets the chi from you." Buffy wasn't the only one amused by Faith stammering explanation, they all were. Then there was the blushing, she didn't think Faith could blush, just one more thing she was wrong about when it came to Faith.

"She kisses them and draws in their sexual chi, alright." Faith huffed, what a bunch of nosy bodies.

Kennedy put two and two together from the earlier conversation she had overheard and came up with sex. "So… exactly how do you heal, if a chi-kiss doesn't cut it?"

Faith gave Kennedy the evil eye. They may not have spent that much time together but she knew Kennedy well enough to know that she already knew what the answer was and was just screwing with them. "Trust-Fund…" Faith literally growled at Kennedy, who just laughed in her face.

"I'm waiting…"

"You're gonna be old and grey before you get an answer." Fuck this blushing shit, it was just down right stupid!

"It's like this," Kenzi decided to lend a helping hand, it was amusing her to no end to see not just Faith blushing but Bo as well, "Ever hear the song _Sexual Healing_? You could say that's Bo's personal anthem, literally. And recently _You Shook Me All Night Long, _has been added to the play list."

"I think I just might be jealous," Buffy blurted out, then shrugged at their surprised looks "…what can I say, I lied when I said I craved non-fat yogurt after slaying…" Buffy laughed at the bug-eyed look Faith gave her, "Bo, there wouldn't happen to be a male version of you I could hopefully meet, cause honestly I'm tired of the stick I've been bouncing on all these years, it's time for a new one…"

They all looked at Buffy with, as Kenzi was fond of saying, the village-Fae-idiot look.

"Just how far down the rabbit hole did we fall?" Kennedy asked no one in particular.

She couldn't help herself Buffy burst out laughing, she hadn't laughed this hard in years, and it felt god-damn good. She should have gotten rid of that stick up her ass years ago.

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	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter - 13**

Faith and Buffy never did get around to that long overdue talk that night. Both were feeling a little too elated over the laughter they shared, even if it had been at Faith and Bo's expense. For the next hour or two they both got to see what their relationship could be like, should have been like, if all this distrust, animosity and even hatred didn't exist or had never existed between the two of them. It was just too good to last and somewhere in the back of their minds, in everyone's minds, they knew it wouldn't.

It wasn't until the next day that Buffy slowly but surely let the old familiar feelings she had for Faith retake their foothold. By the end of the day she was convinced that this all had to be some kind of trick and somehow or another Faith had managed to fool everyone who was close to her into believing that she had changed.

By the second day, Willow without even knowing she did it, reinforced everything Buffy was thinking. Her non-stop babbling about the Fae, and _'wasn't it exciting that there was a whole group of supernatural beings out there they never knew about.'_ How they seemed to be just like humans and that in fact, were distance cousins of humans if what Trick told them was the truth. Willow's non-stop excitement had done nothing but aggravate Buffy and they had gotten into the first of a series of fights over the evilness that was Faith in Buffy's eyes and the blinders that Willow and everyone else seemed to be wearing when it came to Faith.

Buffy spent the rest of the day going over and over in her head everything that had happened that day at the Ash's compound. It had been too easy to forget, to almost forgive, to laugh even with Faith, Bo and Kenzi. That alone sent warning bells off, it just wasn't like her. So hour by hour she convinced herself that something else was at play. With that thought in mind she cornered Willow the next morning a bare hour before they were scheduled to go back to the Ash's compound to discuss the game plan that Giles and Trick had come up with. Willow no matter her feelings on the subject, Buffy knew, would never purposely lead any of them into a dangerous situation, blinders or not.

Willow studied Buffy's profile trying to gage her mood; whatever it was that Buffy was feeling though didn't show on her face. Her gut was telling her though, that all was not well. "What's up Buffy?" Willow asked curtly, she really hoped she wasn't in for another 'Faith is evil' tirade, she had heard enough of that the last two days. Buffy had flipped-flopped so much over the last few days that Willow was starting to think something had short-circuited in Buffy's brain.

Buffy bit her bottom lip, she understood why Willow was being so short with her, she truly did. She couldn't however help but resent it just a little, most especially since it felt like Willow was taking Faith's side against hers. Getting into a fight with Willow again would do nothing except alienate her more.

"Look I know I've got issues and I know how you feel, but letting all of this go, isn't easy. What's easy is falling back into how things have always been between Faith and I. I want to try, I really do, and maybe if this had come about in a different way it wouldn't be so hard. But now there is all this stuff with Faith being _The Triune, _and there being a whole new supernatural group of beings out there we never knew about… It's just weird, I don't know how to say this without sounding like I'm not giving Faith a real chance, that I'm just pretending to go along… It's just, well… given everything we were told, it doesn't sit right with me, trusting this easily, I can't help wonder if we're not under some type of spell."

Willow laughed, it was too funny, because it was the same reason Faith had called her all those weeks ago.

"It's not funny Will, it's a legitimate concern."

"Bo was right, you two need to stop reading the same books. Faith thought the same thing; it's why she had me cast a spell to see if she was under a spell all those weeks ago. And really Buffy, do you think I'd let us all got there, even though I do trust Faith and have for a long time, without making sure that we were protected? We're not under any type of spell; I honestly didn't feel any magic there at all."

Despite Willow's reassurances Buffy still wasn't totally convinced. So, Buffy came up with her own game plan, she would watch and wait and buried so deep it might never see the light of day was the thought that she hoped Faith would prove her wrong.

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Giles and Trick had been in non-stop contact over the course of those days. They had already formulated a 'game-plan'. They also discussed what, if anything, they were going to do when the proverbial shit hit the fan between Buffy and Faith, Buffy and Bo, Buffy and Kenzi, and more than likely Buffy and everyone else. They weren't sure when it would happened, just that it would. In the end what they decided was quite simple, they were going to stay out of it. All four women were adults and they needed to work this out amongst themselves. Forcing them to sit down and talk would solve nothing, each man knew their charges well enough to know the young women would smile at them, and give them assurances they would behave. Both Giles and Trick knew that at the end of the day the assurances would mean nothing. Even though both men decided it would be in everyone's best interest if they stayed out of it, they weren't opposed to stirring the pot a little, and that was how they came up with their game plan.

Xander and Hale would be spending their time together both at the Ash's compound and at Slayer Central in Cleveland learning about each other's defenses and working out attack plans for the upcoming battle.

Willow would be concentrating on finding a way to track not just the Slayers, but the Fae as well, both inside and outside of the veil.

Faith would be in charge of training Slayers and Fae alike, including Kennedy, Bo, Val and Kenzi. Putting Faith in charge would stir the pot, perhaps even make it boil over, because not only would Faith be in charge of them, but she would also be in charge of Buffy.

As for Giles and Trick, they planned on spending most of their time in the Library researching and trying to figure out what it was exactly that was coming their way and hoping against hope that by the time it did all of this would have been put to rest.

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Almost two weeks had come and gone since Giles and Trick had put their game plan into effect_. _

Two weeks of living hell.

Buffy had technically started it, at first it was just a few digs at Faith's ability to lead. Then at Bo's ability to do anything well other than have sex, at which point Faith who had held firm in her resolve not to take Buffy's bait started throwing her own digs at Buffy. But Buffy didn't limit her digs, snide remarks or dirty looks to just them, it seemed she was an equal opportunity sniper, depending on the day, even the hour, any one of them could end up in her crosshairs, but she wasn't alone. Eventually Bo, Kenzi, and even Kennedy got in on the action; they not only went after Buffy but each other as well.

Val had managed to keep out of it, despite being smack dab right in the middle of it. She thought it might be best to have at least one person in the neutral zone because sooner or later the shit was going to hit the fan and someone had to be clear headed enough to keep them from killing each other. By the end of the second week, she couldn't take it anymore, in a matter of minutes she took all their voices away, all except Faith who was immune. Faith thought it was the funniest thing on earth. That was, until Val threatened to call a hundred or so of Hale's guards to tie her Triune ass up and stuff a ball gag down her throat. Faith took the hint, they all did and after Val finally gave them their voices back they remained rather quiet for the rest of the day. After that, unless they were training Val spent all her time with Hale and Xander instead.

Giles and Trick held onto their resolve and stayed out of it. They spent all their time combing through the books in the expansive library, however there were so many they were almost at a loss on where to start. Part of the problem with narrowing down what they were looking for was they found themselves in a situation that was different than any they ever found themselves in before. Always in both Giles and Tricks experience they knew who or what they were fighting, this time they didn't. They were basing their hypothesis on what was happening and what was coming on Gina's diary. For all they knew it was something she made up, an outright lie meant to mislead them.

Willow, for the most part stayed far away from everyone, she had more important things to focus on. The 'Chosen Two' needed to work this out for themselves. Bo and Kenzi too needed to work their issues out with Buffy on their own as well. And apparently Kennedy had her own stuff to work out with the 'Chosen One'. There was nothing she could contribute that would stop the explosion that she was positive was coming.

So she spent her time trying to figure out how to track not only the Slayer-vamps, but Faith and the Fae contingency from inside the veil that covered the city. The spell Willow used to track the Slayers around the world seemed to go wonky once anyone entered the veil; it was almost like it was bouncing around on purpose. Until she figured it out Buffy had decided they would continue to keep track of the groups of Slayer-vamps the old fashioned way, by physically following them.

Faith was Willow's biggest challenge, in or out of the veil; Willow could not get a fix on her. She was everywhere and nowhere all at once, and in a way Willow realized that was the truth. If Faith was connected to all the Slayers like Trick had explained to them, then her Slayer essence **was** everywhere and nowhere. In either case, Willow needed to figure out a way to track all of them inside the veil first and foremost.

Hale spent his days, between the compound and Cleveland with Xander. Each bringing the other up to speed on defenses, and working on tactics for the upcoming fight. They might not know what was coming, but one thing they were all certain of was, when it got here it wasn't going to be looking to sit down for a chat.

Another chat however was in Hale's near future, eventually he knew he had to bring the Morrigan, the leader of the Dark Fae into the mix. What was happening affected the Dark Fae too, and despite not knowing exactly what they were facing, they all instinctively knew whatever was coming wasn't going to distinguish between Light and Dark Fae.

Faith, Buffy and Kennedy, despite all the digs, and potshots ping ponging between them managed to work together as a team to train the others on how to slay non-Fae vampires, Slayer style. The vampires they would eventually be fighting were dead and had no chi, no one wanted any of the Fae 'powering' their abilities by feeding on the chi of those who were fighting with them side by side. In turn Faith was training all the non-Fae on how to fight Fae's should there be any amongst whatever it was that was coming for them.

Buffy had surprised everyone when she took a back seat and let Faith take the lead. She struggled with it, thus all the digs, slights, and dirty looks. As much as she wanted to believe that somehow this was all a setup, what she saw day by day told her something else altogether. She couldn't help see how Faith was with not just Bo and Kenzi but with everyone else. These people trusted and respected Faith, hell they even liked her. When one of Hale's chosen Fae, a young man named Matthew asked Faith where she had learned to lead and train, Faith had told him, much to Buffy's shock, that she had learned by watching and following the example of the best Slayer she had ever known, Buffy.

It was Faith's relationship with Kenzi though that was the most telling for Buffy. Kenzi had complete and utter trust in Faith.

More than once over the course of the two weeks, Kenzi had volunteered to be the 'bait' so to speak, for their training and for their nightly missions out in the field. Kenzi put herself in one dangerous position after another without blinking an eye. She trusted and believed whole heartedly that Faith would at that expense of her own life keep her safe. In all her years as a Slayer, Buffy had never seen any evil beings ever give their trust like that and most especially not to someone who was evil themselves. The trust, the belief that Kenzi had in Faith was the same kind that Xander and Willow gave to Buffy and that if nothing else gave Buffy pause. It however, still didn't take away all the animosity, the loathing she had for Faith and Buffy wasn't sure what if anything ever could. They should have had that long overdue talk and Buffy knew eventually they would, but more than likely now it would come after the fists flew for real first.

Bo grew increasingly quiet as the days went on. She couldn't help but feel the power of the women she was being surrounded by. It was intoxicating, invigorating and arousing her to no end. It was hard enough to deal with the constant sexual energy that surrounded Faith normally, not to mention how hot it burned after she fought, but with Kennedy, Buffy and all the other Slayers around on a daily basis Bo felt like she might go insane. She was living in a state of non-stop arousal and it threatened to get out of control. That wasn't the only thing that was stirring up in her by all the power and sex in the air. The darkness in her was making itself known._ It_ could feel it all._ It_ wanted that power and each day it seemed to push itself closer and closer to the surface and quite frankly it was starting to scare the shit out of her.

Faith for her part felt with each passing day the burden that came with leadership and she found a new respect for Buffy. The weight of it felt heavy upon her shoulders and there were days where she didn't know if she could support it. She was terrified that if she couldn't bare it now that she would completely collapse when she came face to face with the big bad that was gunning for her and the rest of the Slayers. Bo was starting to worry her as well, she knew about Bo darkness and she had a sneaking suspicion that all this sexual energy and power that was running wild with all the Slayers about was making the darkness hungry to be out.

Then there was her own power. The more time Faith spent with Buffy, Kennedy and the other Slayers, the more aware she became of the connection between them and the power she seemed to get from them. With each day she became stronger, faster, her senses sharper, her reactions instinctual, and she knew she was _feeding _off them unconsciously. It wasn't just the Slayers though, it seemed she drew strength from all of them, just like the myth told, and it scared the living shit out of her. She felt the darkness stirring in her, bringing up old doubts and insecurities for the first time in years.

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They were spending the day training with the specially made dummies, which had been provided for them by the Slayer Academy. Xander had designed them when he got tired of constantly fixing the 'for regular human type' ones and the walls they were constantly being sent through. The training dummies they were using now were solid steel on the inside. The outside of the dummy was leather and between the leather and the steel was ten inches of specially made foam. Each dummy was anchored to the floor by steel plates and foot long 'screws', and then welded to the floor. Since they had put them to use, Xander hadn't had to reattach one arm, leg or head to any of the training dummies or patch any holes in the training room walls.

The explosion when it came, happened simply enough and on a day when it was just the six of them training.

"I see you're still dropping your kick right before it connects, B."

"Am not, F," Buffy glared at Faith. Giles had been telling her the same thing for years; she wasn't going to tell Faith that though.

"This is what it should look like," Faith told her, then executed a perfect roundhouse to the dummy's head.

"Hasn't been a problem before, doubt it will be now." Buffy hissed, then performed another roundhouse, once again dropping her kick at the last second. Only this time it was on purpose.

"See you did it again."

"Like it really matters, dropping it or not didn't stop me from kicking your ass," Buffy paused for emphasis, "on more than one occasion. And it wouldn't stop me from doing it again, now."

"Whatever, B, was just trying to help." Faith didn't want to get into a fight over something this stupid. She was tired of the constant bickering; she wanted it over and done with already.

"Walking away, backing down from a challenge, never thought I'd see the day." Buffy stared directly at Faith, a sneer on her face. "What's the matter Faith? Afraid I'm right?"

"No, more like I'm afraid I'd hurt you if we really threw down." She was sincere. Faith was afraid that she would hurt Buffy, having access to all this power scared her. She was afraid if she let loose, if any of the anger she still carried for Buffy, seeped into her punches and kicks she would seriously hurt her. Because she was still angry with Buffy, angry that Buffy refused to see her for who she was now, not who she was all those years ago. Hell, she was angry because Buffy had never seen her at all, not then and most certainly not now.

"Don't make me laugh… You could never beat me before and _Triune_ or not you won't beat me now. You're not that good, you'll never be that good." Buffy scoffed, she was pushing it. This fight needed to happen, she wasn't sure why, she just knew it did. While her words said one thing, inside she wasn't so sure that she could beat Faith anymore. Faith was a good Slayer; she had a discipline now that she had never had before. Not to mention Faith was stronger and faster than Buffy had ever seen her.

"Fine you want to fight B, we'll fight. But I'm warning you, this time I'm not holding back." She said it, but she knew she would never unleash all her power on Buffy; she would seriously hurt or quite possibly kill Buffy if she did. "Bring it you self-righteous, uptight bitch! She turned her head and shouted at the others, "And nobody better interfere!"

Buffy was rushing at Faith before she even finished speaking.

Kenzi, Bo, Kennedy and Willow all watched on in awe. None of them had seen the two Slayers ever go all out with each other. Kick after kick, blow after blow flew from each Slayer and it was a beautiful thing to watch. A deadly ballet of graceful, flowing moves, all executed with precise perfection. It was a dance that spoke of everything between them, hate, betrayal, violence, anger, sorrow, remorse, and regrets.

Neither was winning, neither was losing. Every punch, every kick was blocked, because somewhere deep down inside neither of them really wanted to hurt the other anymore. This was the beginning of their long overdue talk, and this fight was all about forgiving as odd as it seemed.

Buffy spun, throwing a roundhouse at Faith, and Faith waited til the last second when Buffy once again dropped her kick. She countered with a jab to Buffy's chest and sent her stumbling backwards. Faith followed up with another small jab this time to Buffy's head.

Buffy who had anticipated the move, hit Faith with an uppercut. "You still hit like a girl Faith, you'll have to do better than that if you ever want to beat me."

Faith backed away from Buffy a little and then she opened her mind and she drew in all the power of the Slayers. She dropped her guard a little and waited for Buffy to throw her next punch at her. Buffy's fist came at her head, nothing more than a blur and at the last second Faith side stepped it and at the same time she pushed all the power within her into Buffy.

Buffy felt all the power from every single Slayer flow into her and like Faith had the first time, she felt like she could move mountains, could move the very heavens themselves. Buffy couldn't imagine what it would be like to have this power at her fingertips day in and day out. Only once had she ever felt anything remotely close to this. It was the day they had done the enjoining spell to help her defeat Adam. Buffy watched in utter amazement as her fist connected with Xander's special dummy and its head came clean off and went sailing across the room. Its flight finally stopping as it hit the cement wall on the other side of the gym, leaving a gaping hole. Then the power was gone.

Faith pulled the power back into her and did a spinning kick to the same dummy's abdomen. The shriek of metal was loud and hurt everyone's ears as the dummy was ripped from the floor, the crash as it smashed a hole in the cement wall was equally as loud. Faith turned back around and leveled her eyes at Buffy, "That B, is how I hit now." Faith said it quietly, with just a little bit of fear in her voice.

Buffy stared at Faith eyes wide with something akin to wonder and she realized everything Trick had told them about Faith really was true. What was going on wasn't some elaborate scheme, it was real and Buffy was almost struck dumb by that thought. In a moment of true clarity she understood that Faith wouldn't need to pretend to be good just to set them up and trick them. If she was evil like Buffy was so fond of accusing her of being and wanted to harm them, Faith now possessed more than enough power to execute her plan without any subterfuge. That, along with the trust Kenzi had put so implicitly in Faith drove home the fact to Buffy, once and for all, that Faith truly had changed.

"Faith, I…" Buffy started only to be cut off by the low sounding feral rumble that came from Bo. Before anyone had a chance to react, Bo launched herself at Faith and tackled her to the floor. To everyone's astonishment, including Bo and Faith, Bo started kissing the ever loving life right out of Faith.

It was a good long minute before Faith got herself under control enough to stop Bo from feeding from her and to push her off. Faith looked into eyes that were staring at her with a dangerous, dark luminous glow.

Bo's need was beyond anything she had ever felt before, the exchange of power between Faith and Buffy had put her way beyond overload. "Home now," was all she could manage and the sound of her voice so rough, so low, sounded alien to her ears. She stood up bringing Faith to her feet with her.

The darkness in Bo, Faith realized, was starting to make itself known. She briefly thought about not giving Bo what she so clearly desperately needed, but Faith knew Bo would just look elsewhere to satiate her out of control lust. That didn't set well with Faith at all, she was afraid Bo would hurt, quite possibly kill someone in the state she was in, but it wasn't only that. She pushed aside the thought that Bo being with someone else made her heart hurt just a little. So, she let Bo drag her from the gym and filed away the notion that sooner or later, she and Bo would need to talk not just about this darkness but also about what was going on between them.

The others watched the whole thing in shocked silence, until the pair left the gym.

"That's one pussy whipped Slayer." Kennedy snickered, and then ducked the slap upside the head Willow sent her way. "Well she is."

"Not the point," Willow frowned at Kennedy then burst out laughing, "but you're right she is."

"I'd say it's mutual," Kenzi added, then frowned, "Guess I'll be spending the night on that cardboard couch at the Dal again, somebody remind me to get a key made for Faith's apartment. That couch kills my back. I'm too young to have back problems!"

"You could come to Cleveland with us for the night; we have more than enough room. It's got to be better than the Dal." Buffy offered, shocking the shit out of everyone. She was extending the first olive branch and everyone knew it.

Kenzi eyed the California Slayer, a part of her understood Buffy's feelings for Faith and another part of her, wanted to slap Buffy silly until she saw Faith the way everyone else did. But Kenzi knew continuing the animosity wouldn't help anyone, they needed to be a team, so she decided to give Buffy another chance. But if Buffy began to step out of line again, Slayer or not, Kenzi was going to slap her silly. "If you've got tequila and a gaming console you've got a deal."

"Tequila we can get and Xander and Kennedy have the games."

"You've got a deal _'UltraGirl._"

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After the WWII Slayer knockdown, drag down festival, they decided to start meeting up once a day at the Ash's compound, to compare notes, to speculate, to start forming a more solid plan of action beyond training and field exercises. They used the permanent portal that Peggy was happy to set up for the Ash to go back and forth between the compound and Cleveland. It wasn't always all work and no play though, they would stay and play pool or video games, have a few drinks, talk, and laugh and little by little they got to know each other and to like each other.

It wasn't all smooth sailing. Just because Buffy finally believed that Faith truly was on their side, didn't mean there weren't still issues between them that needed to be resolved. Faith too had her own issues to deal with and not just with Buffy but with all the Scoobs. The fight had only opened the door for the conversations that needed to happen years ago and never had.

Over the course of the next month Buffy and Faith had quite a few private chats, putting it all out on the table. They rehashed, they relived. They screamed at each other till the others thought they would go deaf. They hated again and they fought, throwing punch after punch until Willow had to separate them with magic. Buffy alternated from believing Faith and calling her evil along with all the Fae to being her biggest supporter. And Faith flip-flopped between saying fuck it, to giving it another try.

But it wasn't only Faith and Buffy who ended up in the mix. Bo and Kenzi too alternated between liking and hating Buffy. They tried to stay out of it, they really did. But neither of them could sit idly by on the days that Buffy was determined to rip Faith to shreds, and Faith just sat there and let her, absolutely refusing to defend herself.

Faith and the Scoobs weren't the only ones to lay bare their secrets, their souls out on the table. Bo, Kenzi, Trick, Val and Hale all shared.

From Trick being the Blood King, to Hale and Val being the sole heirs to one of the oldest Fae families in existence.

To Kenzi telling more about her time on the streets, and her reasons for leaving home, as well as about the choice she made regarding Nate.

Willow told them about Tara and Dark Willow, to flaying Warren alive.

Giles finally told them everything about being Ripper, about things he had done back then with Ethan, to whom he had almost become.

Bo told them about her life starting with when she fled her hometown, to Lauren, to Dyson, to what happened with the Lich and the Garuda. Even about her fear of the darkness that existed inside of her still and was itching for a chance to get out and take control.

It was a month long roller coaster ride for all of them, and Hale, Val, Trick, Giles, Xander, Willow, and Kennedy all got pulled into it. Faith fought with all the Scoobs, Giles included. She bared her soul to them, and she raged against them, and how they treated her and they raged back at her as well.

Finally after what seemed like a small eternity, it had all been said, every gory detail, every hurt, betrayal, real and imagined.

When it all had all been brought out into the light, when all the tears had fallen, there came a peace, and with that peace came forgiveness, not just for Faith, but for Buffy and the rest of them as well.

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They decided collectively when they finished training and the guards had left instead of returning home like they had every night this past week, to hang out, have a few drinks and order dinner. Though they didn't say it, they were all a little concerned about Faith, she had been too quiet this past week. This had been a particularly tough week for them all. One of the patrols that had been following the Slayer-Vamps had disappeared without a trace. They had looked tirelessly for them to no avail, and though no one had said it aloud, they all knew the four young women had joined the ranks of the undead. No one had to tell them that Faith was blaming herself for their demise, after all it was her that this big bad was gunning for.

Kenzi watched Faith as she wandered off by herself after they had decided on what to eat. It looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, and no one had to tell Kenzi that Faith had little by little begun to pull away from everyone. She saw right through the laughter, the casual bantering, and the _all the shit that was dropped on me is no big deal, _attitude Faith was trying to pull off. She had been through the same thing with Bo when they were preparing to fight the Garuda and Kenzi had no intention of letting Faith get away with it anymore then she had Bo.

Kenzi wasn't the only one who noticed Faith move away from them, Buffy did too. She covertly watched Faith out of the corner of her eye, as she stared out into the darkness on the other side of the window. Buffy knew that look intimately; she had seen it reflected in the mirror many times.

The knowledge that everything depended on you, the responsibility of knowing that everyone was looking to you to make things right with the world, when half the time your own world wasn't even right. It was heavy; it was tiring and scary as all hell. It set you apart from everyone and everything, or at least Buffy had thought that until she realized it didn't make you weak to let others share that burden with you.

Buffy worried her lower lip as she continued to watch Faith. She wanted to go over there and let her know she wasn't alone. She wanted to share her experiences, her wisdom, so to speak with Faith, but she wasn't sure how to do it. How to tell her these things without coming off as the same self-righteous, know-it-all, I'm better than you, Buffy of old.

Both Buffy and Kenzi made up their minds at the same time to go over and talk to Faith, as they both took a step towards her, they saw that Bo was already on her way over, fresh drinks in hand.

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"I still can't get over this; it's amazing when you think about it. The whole 'other world' thing, the Fae, don't you think?" Willow said to Buffy as she and Kennedy joined her.

Kennedy rolled her eyes, she loved Willow, she truly did, but there were times when she got caught up in something she found new and exciting that made Kennedy just want to run for high ground. This was one of those times; Willow had been in non-stop babble mode for the past month and she was driving her nuts. "What's amazing is that huge TV and that gaming rig. Half those games aren't even out yet."

"Game? Did I hear someone say they wanted to play a game?" Kenzi sized Kennedy up, she could take her.

"Think you're up to it, I'm a Slayer after all."

"I guess you'll find out just like GI Joe over there did, and try not to break any controllers like Joe did, Trust-Fund." Kenzi tossed over her shoulder at Kennedy as she made her way over to the couch.

"You mind Will?"

Willow just chuckled and shooed Kennedy away, who took off at the speed of light. She had been wondering how long it would take before Kennedy found a way to get away from her. Willow wasn't ignorant of the fact that she drove her lover nuts sometimes. Hell, she annoyed herself sometimes too. She turned to Buffy, shrugged and started babbling at her instead.

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"Hey," Bo said softly, she leaned up against the wall in front of Faith and handed her the shot of JD.

"Thanks."

"Any reason you're over here by your lonesome sulking?"

"Tact, learn it, live it… and I'm not sulking."

"Fine… is brooding better? Taking a page from…" Bo chewed on her bottom lip, trying to remember Faith's nickname for Angel, "…Soul-boy!"

"Not brooding either." Though in truth she was, she just wasn't going to admit it.

"Have to say your non-brooding look is kind of sexy."

"You've been hanging with me too much, that's something I would say." Faith laughed, and for all of one second the laughter showed in her eyes then it was gone.

"Stop beating yourself up, Faith."

"I'm not."

"You are, I know it, you know it and there's no reason for it."

"You don't know that."

"Yeah I do."

"You can't possible know… know what I'm feeling… know what it's like."

"I get it, I do."

"No you don't, Bo."

"Yeah, I do," Bo turned towards Faith, and moved right into her personal space. Faith was surprised to see how serious she was. "You feel responsible for all of this, like somehow you brought this to our doorstep and in the process dragged us into it too. Don't you?"

Bo only had to stare into those soulful eyes to know she was right. She and Faith were more alike than either of them realized. In a lot of ways Bo knew Faith almost as well as she knew herself. In fact she'd been in the same place not too long ago when they were getting ready to face the Garuda.

"Well… you going to answer me Faith?"

"No, yes… Look you wouldn't be involved in all this crap if it wasn't for me. You could all get killed, or worse, turned, and it would be my fault. It's better if I handle this on my own…"

"Cut the freakin martyr routine Faith and get over yourself. You don't have that much power over fate or destiny or… well us for that matter… you just don't."

"Excuse me?"

"No excuse me you thick-headed ass, just cut the shit. We're in this whether you want us to be or not. But that's not really what's bothering you; is it? You're terrified… terrified of the darkness inside of you, of slipping back into it."

"What if I am… don't you get it? I should be afraid, it's still there, it loves the power and now I find out I have even more fucking power. You and everyone else should be afraid of it… afraid of me."

"And strangely enough, here I am… and the last thing I am is scared of you."

"Well then you're just stupid." Faith knew that was just outright mean, but she was scared, petrified actually and Bo was getting the brunt of it. "You weren't there the first time, you can't possible know what I was really like. You can't know what it's like to feel that temptation, to live with this kind of darkness. It's always waiting for a chance to get loose and just when you think you've got it conquered, that it's gone, it's back from out of nowhere pushing… and pushing... and there are days that you wonder if you're strong enough to defeat it… wonder if you shouldn't just end…You just don't know…"

"Really, remember me? Remember what I told you about my life? I left a trail of bodies behind me when I fled my hometown. I was a monster and each time the hunger became too much, I fed again and unlike you, I gave into that temptation again and again. So don't fucking tell me I don't know what it's like."

"It's not the same thing… you didn't know what you were… no one showed you how to control it… you would have died if you didn't feed."

"And maybe I should have… maybe I should have ended my life… is my life worth so much more than all those people whose lives I ended so I could live?"

"You know how to control your hunger now, the temptation is gone. You don't have to fight that darkness…" Faith didn't want to let it go, she was pushing Bo's buttons, she knew that.

"Are you shitting me? I know exactly what it's like. Did you forget that I sucked the chi, the life out of a room full of people all at once? I had absolutely no clue how I did it and no control when it happened."

"You also tried to give it back."

"That's your answer? So it's okay then for me to suck the chi, the life out of someone if I give it back? What happens if I can't or if I suddenly decide I don't want to? Is it still okay?"

"Well no…" It was then Faith realized why she was pushing Bo's buttons, why she was saying some of the inane things that were coming out of her mouth. This wasn't just about her; it was about Bo too. They were both fighting the same darkness inside.

"So if there's anyone they should be afraid of it's me, not you. Cause even with all this new power and shiny weapon you have, as far as I know you can't kill a whole room all at once! I on the other hand know I can and have."

"I didn't… I never meant… " Faith stumbled, trying to figure out a way to stop digging the hole she put both her and Bo in any deeper. This really wasn't a conversation they should be having in the middle of what seemed to be turning into a fight. "Let's talk about this another time. I'm fine, you're fine so…"

Bo wasn't letting Faith off that easy, talking about this scared her yes, but she didn't give up easily and she wasn't about to let Faith either. Nor was she going to let Faith off the hook or try to backpedal or pretend she was okay, because Bo knew she wasn't. Neither of them was.

It was way past time that Faith believed in herself. No, she shouldn't forget what she did or that the darkness was still there and always would be. But this, this was the darkness' way of making Faith feel weak, Bo understood that and it was time to take that power away from it too.

"Let me tell you something I've never told anyone else, Faith, 'cause I know you'll understand this. I loved it. I loved the power running through me, the feeling that nothing and no one could stop me, that they were less than me and I knew it. So don't tell me I don't know about the darkness, I do. I can still feel it inside and it scares the living shit out of me. Because unlike you, I don't have a clue what it is or where it's coming from, only that it's in me and I haven't even begun to figure out how to control it. So yeah, it's **_me_**, not you, they should be scared of.

"You've been fighting and winning against your darkness for over ten years, so give yourself some credit and stop letting it have this power over you. I need you to believe in yourself… because… because… I'm looking to you to help me deal with the darkness inside of me, to help me learn how to control it… so believe in yourself, like I believe in you, like we all believe in you. If you can't do that, well… well… then you're not who I think you are and as far as I'm concerned you can just go fuck yourself!"

Bo stormed off ignoring the others staring at her, undoubtedly they had heard part, if not all of her and Faith's conversation. She hadn't exactly kept her voice down. Well good, hopefully they'd give her shit of their own. All she wanted right now was another shot of tequila, no, make that about five.

She had just exposed herself to her best friend and a bunch of women she barely even knew. That wasn't even what had set her on edge and sent her world spinning. For the first time she had vocalized her own doubts and fears. Had acknowledge out loud, given voice to the darkness inside of her and that had just made it all too frighteningly real.

Faith started to follow Bo only to be stopped by Willow.

"Bo is right, it's been ten years, time you believed in yourself, truly believed in yourself. It's not easy; I know that, you know I do. Flayed a man alive and tried to end the world… so I know all about it…. you have to believe, like we do, 'cause if you don't in the end the darkness wins. And that's all I have to say." Willow decided she needed some of what Bo was having and joined her at the bar.

"Ditto what Willow said, except for the flaying and ending the world stuff." Kennedy yelled from across the room, Slayer hearing did have its uses.

Before Faith had a chance to move she was stopped again.

"You know I've been standing over there trying to figure out how to talk to you about some of this without coming off as the same old know it all Buffy. But, screw that. Cut the crap Faith and let us help, don't make me make it an order. You do still work for me last I checked. As for you going all evil again, well if you want to spend the next ten years trying to convince me you are, after spending the past ten trying to convince me you weren't, well… be my guest. And I'm channeling Willow, I blame you for this, just so you know." Buffy headed over to the bar to join the others.

Faith didn't even bother to try to go to Bo, instead she waited on Kenzi who was making her way over to her.

"You really are two peas in a pod… And look at what you've reduced me to I'm spouting frigging clichés!"

"But…"

"Don't bother, heard this all before from Bo… Didn't listen to her either, and unless you're a Shadow Man and didn't tell us, you didn't make this mess. You don't get to choose whether I help or not, whether I stand by your side, that's my choice and the last time I looked I was all grown up… and grew into one hot mama, I would like to add! As for the rest, to me it's simple. I believe in you. You do remember the whole _lets test Faith _thing, I trusted you with my life that day and I still do. So for the record you mental mutant, that isn't going to change."

Kenzi paused and looked in the direction of Bo, "And I see some serious groveling in your future, Joe. So while you figure out your groveling plan, I'm gonna get a drink."

Faith looked at them over at the bar and she wondered to herself if it really was as easy as that?

Faith realized, if she believed she believed, then it was just that easy. And as she made her way over to the bar to join them, she believed.

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Less than ten minutes after Bo dropped Faith off, Faith was making her way on foot over to the Clubhouse. She never had the opportunity to talk to Bo to apologize or grovel for that matter. There really hadn't been a chance to talk, she had been unable to even get Bo to look at her over dinner, let alone get her alone so they could talk.

After they had finished eating they had decided to call it a night, and regroup in the morning. On the ride home, Bo hadn't said a word or looked in her direction and she made it perfectly clear by dropping Faith off first that she wanted nothing to do with her at all.

Faith had no idea what she was going to say when she got there, or if Bo would actually let her in. But she had to take that chance, her friendship with Bo… fuck it… Bo herself meant too much to her, to not try to set things right. She had made an ass out of herself, she had let old doubts and insecurities rear their ugly heads and that had been plain old stupid. Mostly though she was going there because she knew Bo was running scared, and Faith knew exactly what that was like.

As much as Faith loved Kenzi and knew how loyal, protective and how much she loved Bo, this was something she couldn't help Bo with. Kenzi had never been there, sure everyone had darkness in them, but as far as Faith knew, Kenzi had never crossed that far over the line, not like Bo and Faith had.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Faith."

"Since when do you knock Joe?"

"Can I come in?"

"If you need an invite, then no you can't."

Finally, for weeks Faith had been beating it into Kenzi and Bo's brain to actually ask who was at the door, and not just shout come in. She tried the knob and found the door unlocked, well at least they got it half right.

"Took you long enough to get here, I expected to see you chasing the car after Bo dropped you off."

"Thought about it," Faith laughed, she actually had thought about it.

"She's upstairs taking a bath with Jose."

For one second Faith felt a hot flash of jealousy run through her and then it dawned on her who or rather what Jose was. She took a step towards the stairs then stopped, should she go up or should she wait for Bo to come down?

"Dude, you two are so socially inept… Go already… And everybody wants to know why I drink so much… Is it any wonder…? First Bo... now you… I need a teaching certificate…"

Faith had stopped listening to Kenzi, she took the steps two at a time and stopped in front of the bathroom door.

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_Now what? Should I… oh fuck it, I am who I am… _Faith stripped in the hallway and strode right into the bathroom in all her naked glory. Bo sat up in the tub and just stared at her. Without saying a word Faith climbed into the tub behind Bo and pulled her back into her warm embrace.

"I'm sorry," Faith whispered into Bo's hair, "I'd be groveling if I actually knew how to grovel."

"Glad you don't, I like this much better."

Faith half turned Bo in her arms so she could see her face, "I really am sorry for being such an ass, for calling you stupid, that was just mean and I didn't mean it."

"I know you didn't and I'm not mad at you… we all get insecure, we all doubt ourselves once in a while. But the thought of you running off to fight all alone, or because you thought you might hurt us, well that scares me. You're not alone, and you haven't been since the day you walked into the Dal. You just need to believe that."

"I do… believe that is… All it took was me getting hit over the head with a proverbial frying pan by everyone tonight, for it to finally get through my thick skull… Sure I'm still scared of the darkness in me, I'll never forget it's there, that it will always be there, but I'm not afraid of slipping back over, not without one apocalyptic sized fight anyway."

"Good…" Bo said and nuzzled her face into Faith's neck.

"Talk to me Bo, tell me what you're feeling." She didn't need to clarify; she knew Bo knew what she was asking.

"I'm scared. This darkness in me, I have no control over it and I don't even know how to get any. It wants out, it's hungry and it terrifies me. What happened that day after your fight with Buffy that was more it than me. If I had been with anyone else but you I'm not sure they would have made it through the night alive."

Faith knew Bo was right; someone else would have more than likely not have survived the night. Bo had been relentless, feeding off of Faith almost non-stop. She had been rough, demanding, and ruthless when they were having sex. There had been virtually nothing loving or caring in her touches and kisses. She had managed only slightly to keep from crossing the line and Faith knew if Bo had been with anyone else, she would have crossed the line.

"If it ever gets full control, there will be nothing of me left. I'm afraid to get too angry, or put myself in any situation where someone I care about is threatened; it seems to come out then. It's protective of them for now… but I don't think it will always be that way… Protective or not it will destroy anyone that gets in its way, it wants power. It wants everyone bowing at its feet; it wants to be Queen of everything and everyone."

"It's okay to be scared, it's a good thing… believe it or not it helps to keep the darkness at bay, and the first step is to know that the darkness is not an **_it_**. The darkness is part of you; it is you, just like the light is. Just try to remember one thing, light always dispels dark. And I swear to you, that we will figure out a way to put a leash on it and I promise you that I'll be with you every step of the way through the good and the bad until we do."

Bo realized she felt safe in Faith's arms, in a way that she never felt with either Dyson or Lauren. Perhaps it was because neither of them had ever been where she and Faith had. Or perhaps it was for other reasons altogether and maybe, just maybe, it was a little bit of both. "Can we not talk about this anymore tonight?"

"Sure…" Faith knew now was not the time to push the issue, eventually that time would come.

"Good…" Bo's hand slid up to cup one of Faith's breasts, "…I can think of a lot of other things we could be doing instead of talking."

"I'm surprised you lasted this long," Faith laughed, then let out a small moan when Bo began to toy with her nipple.

"That makes two of us." Bo murmured before she leaned up and took possession of Faith's mouth.

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Soft, slow and delicately Faith glided her hand down Bo's body from collarbone to hip. She was still a little bit enamored, in awe of touching someone like this and being touched this way in return. After the harsh words, the anger, and the emotions that were running so high today, Faith honestly thought when she lifted Bo from the tub and carried her into the bedroom that they were in for a night of hard, fast fucking, over and over again. But the light unhurried kisses and the sensuous nibbling on her lower lip as she carried Bo to the bedroom, told her it was the last thing Bo was craving and surprisingly enough she realized that wasn't what she wanted either.

So Faith took her time, her mouth and hands traversing the landscape of Bo's body. She gently glided over the hills and the valleys with callous hands, tender kisses, moist tongue and sensuous delicate bites, trying to chase away the fears and the darkness that hounded not just Bo, but her as well. Trying with her touch to let Bo know that she was not alone, that she would never be alone no matter what had happened in the past and what might happen in the future. She gave to Bo a promise without words, that in the reality of Faith's own life no one had ever given to her.

Faith moved to lie lightly on top of Bo's soft, yet hard body. She supported herself upon her elbows and gazed down at this woman she had come to care so much about. Bo understood her in ways no one ever had, not even Angel. They shared a similar background, something Angel and she really did not.

Angel never understood Faith's contention that her crimes were worse than his despite the fact that his body count far exceeded her own, simply because she had a soul when she committed these acts. It was Angel's demon who had killed countless, not Angel the souled vampire. That didn't discount what he had done for her, didn't discount that she would probably be dead or a monster had he not been there to help her, guide her, and champion her cause for redemption, and still did. But he couldn't understand what it was to take a life, to have the darkness own you, while the lightness inside of you screamed out in denial at what was happening and of what you had become.

Faith continued to gaze into Bo's eyes as she began to move upon her in a dance as old as time itself. It suddenly dawned on Faith that Bo's eyes were not the luminous blue they always were when they were together. They were crossing a line they hadn't crossed before. This time they weren't here because of Bo's hunger, her need to survive, or because she had been hurt and needed to heal. Nor because she'd been out slaying with Faith and Faith's own sexual chi had pushed Bo's hunger over the edge into a do or die.

Faith was slightly in awe of the liquid mocha liquid eyes that were staring into her own eyes with just as much hunger, just as much passion as they did when they were a luminous blue. And both women realized this was the first time they were together for no other reason than just because.

As they stared at each other a silent understanding flowed between them, and they acknowledged without words they had become more than just friends with benefits. How much more they didn't know, but for now they didn't need to know, for now just knowing was enough.

And the white elephant in the room with them watched silently with sad, but slightly hopeful eyes as these two women who had spent most of their lives alone and running came together. They were learning something this night, to truly be able to love someone, you had to love yourself first. There was no judging between them, no you can't be happy, you can't smile, you can't love, you can't have friends, you can't have family, you can't laugh, the endless litany of you can't because of your past misdeeds never crossed their lips or their minds.

It was the gift of freedom they gave to each other, freedom from the doubters and freedom from being judged by their unconditional acceptance of each other. Freedom to truly begin to love themselves and the freedom to begin to become what they were always meant to be.

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	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter – 14**

"D-man!"

"K-girl!"

Kenzi launched herself at Dyson and pulled him into a bone breaking hug. He hugged her back just as tightly. His views on humans, on the world in general had changed dramatically since Kenzi and Bo had entered his life and he was glad it had. He untangled himself from Kenzi to greet Trick.

"Welcome back." Trick poured a beer for Dyson, "…when did you get back?"

"Late last night."

"Got tired of howling at the moon?"

"I see you haven't lost your rapier wit since I've been gone."

"As if, dude." Kenzi noticed that Dyson was looking around the bar; it wasn't hard to figure out exactly what, or rather who he was looking for. "She isn't here; she's out working a case, hunting if you want to get technical about it."

"And you didn't go with her?"

"No, and I'm not happy about it. But… I understand why. 'Sides she's got Faith with her. A lots happened since you've been gone Wolf-boy."

"Faith? I don't think I know a Fae named Faith."

"Well… Trick," Kenzi motioned for Trick to come over, "we need refills and then we need to talk privately to fill Dyson in on Alice."

"Who's Alice?"

"Once upon a time in Fae-Wonderland…" Kenzi began as she, Dyson and Trick started to make their way to Trick's private quarters.

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"Remember Bo, you have to stake 'em, or decapitate 'em. High chi'ing them won't work."

"Funny, Faith."

"I think so."

"You would."

"Ready?"

"What no kiss for luck?"

Faith didn't answer Bo, she just pulled her to her instead. She started the kiss off soft, then gradually increased the pressure. Her tongue delicately traced Bo's lips seeking entrance and she growled into the kiss when it was granted. A forceful wave of desire rolled over the length of her body as Bo began to 'feed' from her.

By the Gods, she loved kissing Faith. She loved kissing her when she wasn't sharing chi and she loved kissing her when she was. They had discovered, much to Bo's and later to Trick's surprise when Bo had told him, that unlike Dyson or any other Fae or human she had been with, that when Bo did 'feed' from Faith that it didn't weaken or deplete Faith in any way. In fact it energized Faith, it seemed Faith fed from her much like she did the Slayers and it didn't seem to affect Bo's abilities or weaken her in any way either. It was just one more thing that confirmed that Faith was indeed The Triune.

Bo increased the intensity of their kiss, letting her hunger, her lust, her desire flow into the chi they were exchanging. She couldn't suppress the shudder that went through her when Faith did the same.

"Bad Succubus."

"You like when I'm bad."

"Yes, yes I do, now let's get this done Tinkerbell, I've got plans for you later."

The sensuous smile that crossed Bo's mouth let Faith know Bo had some plans of her own for later. Bo loved Faith's Slayer version of the Succubus hungry and horny. While Faith didn't need to have sex to survive, to live, her hunger was just as powerful, just as potent as Bo's was when she was in that state. And given who and what she was, Bo was more than happy to help Faith quench her hunger every chance she got.

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"Alone at last," Faith smirked at the trussed up Slayer-Vamp.

"Fuck you," snarled the Slayer-Vamp.

"Got the wrong Slayer… anyway pretty sure she's over that phase in her life…" Faith stopped for a minute to actually think about it, "…well at least I hope she is… will have to ask her."

"You're rambling Joe." Bo whispered to Faith.

"Kinda hard not to with you plastered to my back and making a meal out of my neck, Jane."

"You can't escape us… we will…"

"Blah… blah… blah… save it for the Scoobs already heard this crap." Faith told the Slayer-Vamp as she reached into her jacket and pulled out the little microchip Willow had given her. Willow had been working on the microchip non-stop for over a month. This was her first working model, and today was to be its maiden voyage.

The microchip or the miniature GPS had been Willow's idea, she still had a problem tracking the Slayer-vamps and everyone else in the city they were converging on. She knew it had something to do with the veil and no matter what she tried; she could not pierce it, thus the mini-gps.

The first part of their mission today was to capture one of the Slayer-vamps alive and within the city limits. This would serve two purposes. The first was to test out Willow's mini-gps, if all went well, Willow should be able to pin-point the location of the captured S.V. and if it all went as theorized she would be able to teleport the S.V. back to Cleveland. The second purpose, if the first was successful, was to hopefully get some of the answers that were still eluding them, mainly who was leading them, and that was where Xander and Hale came in. It was a solid plan and if the chip worked they were going to outfit everyone with them, Faith, the Fae crew and any Slayers who joined them inside the veil.

Faith slapped the mini-gps onto the arm of the tied up Slayer-vamp in front of her, then reached into her pocket, grabbed her cell, opened it and hit speed-dial nine. "One to beam up Red," she told Willow before she even had a chance to say hello. Faith waited long enough to make sure that Willow was actually able to teleport the Slayer-vamp and then she quickly turned in Bo's embrace, who really had been plastered to her back making a meal out of the back of Faith's neck with her sharp teeth.

"Bad Succubus," Faith murmured repeating what she said earlier.

"Couldn't wait," Bo told her, her eyes a dark luminous blue. Bo was literally shaking from the need to feed her hunger.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Faith had known that Bo's hunger was stronger, fiercer than normal. She had felt it grow with each punch, each kick, each blow she had landed while fighting the six Slayer-vamps. Bo's sexual hunger had picked up Faith's growing sexual need during the fight and had magnified it until Faith felt it almost as keenly as Bo did.

Faith slammed Bo up against the cement wall of the basement, she didn't need to be told what Bo needed and needed now. They ignored the fact they were in the basement of an abandoned house where anyone could walk in on them. They ignored the five piles of dust swirling around their feet that had once been Slayers. They ignored everything, because at that moment the only thing that existed for either of them was the hunger.

Faith took Bo's mouth roughly, possessively, and they dueled for dominance of the kiss. Her hand slipped down Bo's body, popping open the buttons and pulling down the zipper of Bo's jeans all in one fluid move. She impatiently pushed them down just enough so she could slip her hand inside. Then Faith was surrounded in a heat, in a dripping wet world of need, desire, passion and hunger that made her own knees weak.

Bo ripped her mouth away from Faith's and buried her head into Faith's neck. She took quick bites in-between erratic breaths, running her tongue over the tart sweat that mixed with the sweetness that was Faith's skin. Her fingers dug hard into Faith's shoulders and she knew they would leave marks.

Faith felt Bo clutching around her fingers and she knew that Bo wouldn't last much longer before she'd be coming with an intensity that quite possibly could bring them both to their knees. Faith knew once wouldn't be enough, there was a dangerous edge to Bo's hunger that Faith had only seen and felt once before.

The air seemed to churn around them, followed by a soft pop.

"Oh sweet Goddess…" Willow stumbled back from the scene in front of her, Kennedy and Buffy stepping back with her. "Sorry… didn't see… didn't know…"

Willow turned around quickly, the image of Faith and Bo burned into her brain, burned into all their brains. Kennedy and Buffy followed suit and that's when it hit them, the sexual chi that was as thick as molasses in the air of the basement.

"Holy shit…" Kennedy whispered as she reached out a hand and placed it on the wall to help support her.

Faith ripped her hand out of Bo's pants, the second she realized they weren't alone anymore. She grimaced in sympathy at the cross between a whimper and a growl that came from Bo, who she knew had been on the razors edge of release.

"What the fuck Red?" Faith snarled as her shaking hands tried to button up Bo's pants. Finally getting them done, she started to turn around to confront their uninvited guest, but stopped as Bo's fingers dug painfully into her flesh.

Bo drew in one uneven breath after another quickly trying to calm herself and her hunger. It was a mistake; all it did was bring the taste of the other three woman's sexual chi deep into her lungs. Bo looked up desperately at Faith as she felt her control start to slip.

Faith watched as Bo's eyes seemed to shimmer and turn an even darker blue. Bo blinked once slowly and when she reopened her eyes Faith knew that Bo had left the building and it was the darkness within that was staring back at her with a hunger that had no beginning and no end.

"Run," Faith yelled to the others, but it was too late. It was something akin to outright awe and fright that ran through Faith as she watched Bo began to feed on Buffy, Kennedy, Willow and even her all at the same time. She had never seen the chi that flowed between them before, the river of sparking blue energy that left the body and surged towards Bo. Nourishing Bo and in the state Bo was in killing everyone else.

Willow, Kennedy and Buffy didn't have a clue what hit them. All they knew was they were filled with a sexual need the likes of which made them fall to their knees. Even Kennedy and Buffy had never felt anything like it, not even after slaying. On some level they knew Bo was feeding from them, what they hadn't realized and no one had bother to explain to them, was that when she fed, whomever she was feeding from would feel that intense pleasure, feel Bo's hunger.

Kennedy and Buffy struggled against the feeling, years of training, years of fighting, kicking in unconsciously, but this was something they had never encountered before. This was something they had never trained for and they both knew they were fighting a losing battle.

Willow fought as well, pulling in her own power, her magic, but she was being overwhelmed, the words refusing to form, to spill from her lips, her voice taken from her. She couldn't move, couldn't speak, and couldn't think. They were like flies caught in a spider web and inanely they all thought it was one hell of a way to die.

Her mind spinning, her eyes staring deeply into Bo's and seeing the piece of Bo that was still there, still aware, and scared shitless, Faith knew she had to stop this. But she had no clue how. In a desperate move she crashed her mouth against Bo's, and without thought, or reason and not even knowing why, she _fed _on Bo. Fed from everything and everyone, and she pushed that chi back out and in turn fed that chi, _her_ chi back to the other three women in the room, giving them life back and power, _her_ power. When she was sure they were all connected, she forcefully stopped the flow of chi between them all.

"You bitch," Bo snarled at her, and started to take a deep breath.

"Don't even think about it…," Faith snarled back, as Bo or rather the darkness within her stared at her with something akin to hatred and bottomless lust.

Faith reached into her pocket, keeping one hand pressed against Bo's chest holding her securely trapped against the wall, and pulled out her cellphone and keys. She tossed them to Willow, "Call Kenzi, get directions to the Dal, take the yellow car out back. Tell her to meet you there, and tell her to have Trick close the bar."

"What the hell just happened?"

"Later Trust-Fund, now get the fuck out of here." Faith wanted them gone, she had no idea how she had stopped Bo. How she had stopped Bo from feeding on her she knew she could do, but how she had stopped her from feeding on the others she hadn't a clue. She didn't know if Bo started feeding from them once more if she could stop her again. And right now she was terrified of herself, terrified of this power inside of her, terrified of getting dragged down into this pool of hunger and need, but most of all she was terrified _for_ Bo.

"We're not leaving witho…" Buffy tried.

"You are and you will, now go… I promise we'll meet you there." It was a promise Faith was determined to keep.

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"Ready to dance?" Faith stepped back from Bo and smiled at her.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, I can be more powerful than all the Fae, there will be no more Light or Dark Fa…" Bo trailed off as Faith started to laugh.

"Is that the only speech you've got? Cause if I'm not mistaken you used that one on the Lich." Faith crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at Bo. "And in case you haven't figured it out yet, you ain't the baddest bitch in town anymore."

Bo glared at Faith and once again Faith caught a glimpse of the real Bo lurking underneath the darkness.

"My strength is unmatched…" Bo stopped as Faith started laughing again.

"The Garuda speech now… Really?" Faith saw the punch coming and ducked under it. She caught Bo's arm as it completed its swing, spun her around and twisted Bo's arm up into her lower back. She pushed Bo face first into the wall and leaned her body up against her, holding her there. "I'd say you've more than met your match."

"Fuck you." Bo struggled to get out of Faith's grip but it was futile, and she sagged just a little, the darkness waning losing its grip for just a second. "Faith?" She asked softly, and then the darkness pushed forth again and she lost the brief second of control she had.

"I'm here," Faith whispered into Bo's ear, "Fight it Bo… fight the darkness, fight the power… You're not your Mother, she couldn't control it… you can… I believe in you, believe in yourself." Faith let go of Bo's arm and she turned her around and pulled her into her arms. "Believe in yourself, you can win this fight."

Bo struggled hard in Faith's arms, and she struggled just as hard in her mind. She fought tooth and nail against the threatening tide of darkness that would turn her into a monster once again, leaving nothing of her behind. She waged war with the darkness and drew strength from the arms that held her so securely and safely. Drew strength from the belief in her she felt coming from Faith. She raged and she cursed and she pushed against the darkness and felt it give a little and she began to believe. With one last tremendous push in her mind she felt the darkness recede. She had beaten it for now, but she knew it would be back again, this battle had only just begun, then she promptly passed out.

Faith lifted Bo up into her arms and carried her upstairs and out into the night. She turned towards the Dal, she knew this was the first of many battles with this darkness but she couldn't help smile. Round one had gone to Bo with an undisputed Knock Out.

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All three women were squirming in their pants. The last place they wanted to be going was the Dal. Willow wanted to drag Kennedy off and have her way with her over and over, again and again, until they passed out and if the looks Kennedy was giving her were any indication she felt the same way.

Buffy wasn't immune, she was so far from immune it was almost painful. She was ready to jump from the car and find the nearest stud and teach him Faith's want, take and have, over and over. Though in reality she knew that a mere _human_ wouldn't be enough to quench this unbridled lust that was running rampant through her, hell a whole host of human males wouldn't be able to. They just didn't have that kind of staying power, women on the other hand, well… and at that thought she had to laugh.

"We're here…" Willow said at the same time she saw Kenzi standing at the entrance of the alley waiting for them.

They followed Kenzi into the Dal, where Trick and Dyson were waiting for them. Kenzi introduced the women to Dyson. None of them missed the way Dyson's nostrils flared or the heavy lidded look that came to his eyes when the scent of the three women in front of him reached his sensitive nose.

"What's going on?" Trick demanded coarsely, when he realized that neither Bo nor Faith seemed to be joining them.

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Faith showed up carrying a passed-out Bo in her arms only a few minutes after Willow finished telling the group at the Dal in a very awkward, rambling manner what had happened at the abandoned house. She gently deposited Bo on the couch then joined the others over at the bar, throwing a grateful look at Trick as he handed her a beer.

"So Wolverine returns," Faith joked, she had immediately known who he was by the description Bo and Kenzi had given her.

"And you must be Alice, pleasure to meet you."

"Or Joe, depends on the day," Faith saluted him with her beer and then took a long healthy draw from it.

Dyson ignored the wolf in him as it stirred possessively when it smelled Bo all over Faith. It wasn't the only thing he smelled upon her. He could smell her power and she was powerful, even if she didn't know how powerful. He could smell too, her fear for Bo it slicked her skin, as well as the depth of her other emotions when she looked at Bo. Though he couldn't smell it, he could see her strength of will. A strength that had been forged over the years as she struggled to rise above what she had done, who she had been, and fought to become the person she was meant to be. He had to admire her and something told him that at the end of the day, she would be someone he'd be proud to call friend.

"You guys alright?" Faith looked from Willow, to Kennedy, to Buffy, quickly taking stock of them.

"You could say that," Kennedy laughed, then squirmed a little in her seat. Faith noticed that Kennedy wasn't the only one discretely squirming in their seat.

"I feel your pain Trust-Fund," Faith laughed out loud, it was contagious and they all laughed with her.

It was the laughter that woke Bo, "Faith?" Laughter was the last thing she expected to hear when she woke, and she wondered if perhaps she wasn't dreaming after all. Most, especially since Dyson was standing at the bar laughing with them. "Dyson?"

"Bout time you woke up Tinkerbell."

"Is everyone okay?"

"In a manner of speaking," Willow snickered, she was horny as all hell, but she could still find the humor in it. Not to mention she now had a complete understanding of exactly how Kennedy felt when she got home from slaying, and all she could think was holy shit! "When you told us about being a Succubus, you kind of left out the part where everyone gets a happy when you feed."

Trick choked on his drink, he didn't need or want to hear about this part of his granddaughter's life. He knew though he had to if wanted to be able to help her beat this darkness. So he'd put aside his embarrassment until after they beat it, then he never wanted to hear anything to do with that part of Bo's life for the rest of his life.

"I'm so sorry… I… I…" Bo buried her face in her hands, she was mortified, not to mention shaking in her boots with terror over the fact that she had almost killed them. The worst part of all was the hunger was still there, still as strong and all she could think about was dragging Faith into the back room and fucking until they both passed out.

"Don't apologize. We're all just glad you're here and alright. You fought and won, that's what's important," Buffy spoke softly, she didn't need to clarify, they all knew what she was talking about. They truly had all become friends in spite of all the odds against them, and she was determined not to make the same mistakes with Bo that she had made with Faith. Bo needed their support, not their condemnation and Buffy was going to be her biggest cheerleader, although looking around at everyone in the bar, she knew she'd have to fight for the top spot.

"Ditto what Buffy said… and besides what's a little chi between friends…" Kennedy smirked at Bo, and Bo couldn't help think that Kennedy and Faith were a lot alike in some ways. "…although a kiss first would have been nice…" Kennedy ducked the swat coming at the back of her head from Willow.

Buffy looked over at Kenzi, "You wouldn't have an Incubus on speed-dial would you?"

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	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter – 15**

Faith and Bo talked at length over the course of the next few days. Faith was relentless with her questions, and Bo struggled to answer all of them as best and as honestly as she could. Bo didn't want to talk about what happened, she wanted to ignore the darkness within her, but Faith wouldn't let her.

Faith was working on a game plan to help Bo conquer her darkness; help her become its master, not the other way around. But she needed to understand it first, needed answers to her questions. She had asked Bo to trust her and Bo did. She forced down the terror that came with even talking about the darkness and she talked and talked until she couldn't talk any more.

Another thing became apparent over the course of those few days. Neither Faith nor Kenzi was going to let her keep avoiding Dyson. That was how she found herself alone with him at the Clubhouse only two days after he got back. Up until this moment she had managed to avoid him and his calls. She didn't know if she wanted to hear what he had to say, she didn't need him back in the mix, her life, her feelings were confusing enough, he would only complicate them more. Kenzi and Faith would pay for setting her up this way. She'd make sure of that!

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"Traitors," Bo called out after Faith and Kenzi's retreating backs. She was going to kill them for setting her up like this.

"Do I smell? I did shower today." Dyson handed Bo a beer and sat next to her on the couch.

"No you don't smell," Bo said harshly then sighed, "Look Dyson, it's not you… it's just I don't kno…"

"Bo, wait, before you say anything, let me say what I have to say…" Dyson smiled softly at Bo, he knew what she was going to tell him, his wolf could feel it. Her feelings for him had changed.

Bo looked deeply into Dyson's eyes, she owed him this much. She would let him say what he wanted and then she would have her chance. She loved him, but she wasn't in love with him, not any more. She nodded her agreement and smiled softly in return.

"When the Norn took what meant the most to me, I didn't realize at first that wasn't all she took. She didn't just take my love, she took my ability to love period. She left a gaping hole, not just in my heart, but in my soul. It was torture, I could remember what it was like to love you, to love period, but I couldn't feel it. My mind knew what my heart should feel, not just for you, but for Ciara, for Kenzi, for anyone in my life that had meant anything to me." Dyson took a deep pull on his beer; he hadn't thought this would be this hard. He smiled at the hand that gently clasped his.

He took a deep breath before he continued. "When Kenzi got my love back…" Dyson paused and snickered a little, it just sounded silly when he said that for some reason. "…when I drank that potion it wasn't just my love for you that was returned, it was all the love I had ever felt and all the love I should have felt since the Norn had taken it from me. So while I was in love with you, I realized that I had fallen in love with Ciara too. What was restored to me was more than what was taken…" He stopped again, unsure where to go next.

"Go on," Bo encouraged him; she knew this wasn't easy for him. Dyson wasn't the share and care type, he was the do or die type. And she could see he was struggling to find the right words, not for him, but for her.

"It didn't make sense to me, which was why I left. Why I went to the Wolf Spirit for guidance. I shouldn't have fallen in love with Ciara, I had committed myself to you. I had chosen you as my mate. Wolves mate for life, we don't stray, we don't falter in our love. What I learned, what I realized was, when the The Norn took my love from me it broke my bond to you. That was why when it was all given back, those feelings for Ciara were there and still are, just like they are for you. To my wolf you were dead, as harsh as that sounds, and it was free from the commitment I made, which allowed me to fall in love with Ciara."

"Dyson, I…"

"I'm not finished Bo." Dyson closed his eyes for a brief second, "Wolves when they mate, they do so for life. We are possessive, monogamous and we protect what we considered ours. We don't share, no matter the reason, not even if it's the difference between life and death. And we will rip apart anyone or anything that comes between us and our chosen mate. I had let myself forget this when I bonded with you. Convinced myself that the wolf in me would look the other way, but I know that's not the truth. You're a Succubus, you are a sexual being, you thrive on it, you need it to survive, and that's never going to change. I will never be enough for you…" He paused and took a deep breath, "Which is why I won't make that commitment, why I won't choose you for a mate again. It wouldn't be fair to you. It wouldn't be fair to me. It wouldn't be fair to either of us. I know now, that had this not happened with the Norn, my bonding with you in the end would have destroyed us both."

"I don't know what to say," Bo truly didn't. There was a part of her that was furious at being rejected, which considering she wasn't in love with him anymore was ridiculous. But the bigger part of her knew Dyson was right. She also knew she would be agreeing with him even if she were still in love with him.

In the quiet that followed they mourned together. Mourned what could have been and what had been. Like him, she understood this was the right decision, understood it never would have truly worked between them. The promise of fidelity he would have asked for, she would have given freely. But she knew in the end it was a promise she more than likely would have broken. Even though she couldn't kill him when she fed on his chi, she could deplete him, leaving him vulnerable. There had also been times when Dyson hadn't been enough to completely quench her hunger. As this power inside of her, as she grew stronger, Bo knew that she would have needed more than just him to survive.

"There's nothing to say, just know that I will always be there for you, in any way you need me too, that hasn't changed, that will never change."

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Bo made her way down the steps to the training area at the Ash's compound, grumbling under her breath the whole way. Quite frankly she was tired of training, tired of fighting against the rising tide of darkness in her that pushed and pushed every time she was around so many Slayers. Only now it was making itself known even when it was just her and Faith. It craved Faith and it craved her power, it wanted to devour her whole.

She heard them training halfway down the steps. It wasn't until she heard a crash and a yelp of pain that she realized this wasn't training but an all-out fight. Fucking Buffy and Faith, she had thought they were past this. She ran down the rest of the step and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight in front of her.

Faith and Dyson were circling each other. There was no one else in the room with them, and the looks they were throwing each other were anything but friendly. Bo's stomach clenched when Dyson's wolf came out, eyes glowing, teeth growing long and sharp, nails elongating into claws. She felt the first stirring of the darkness in her when Dyson swiped at Faith and caught her across the stomach leaving four long bloody nail stripes.

"First blood is mine, bitch." Dyson snarled at Faith.

"And your last, _Marmaduke." _Faith snarled right back, as she pulled the power of the Slayers into her. She caught Dyson with a round-house kick that sent him flying across the room.

Faith had let him cut her on purpose. This whole scenario had been planned, though Bo didn't know that. They had even practiced sparring together. They wanted to bring out the darkness in Bo. They wanted Bo to become familiar with it. They wanted her to learn how to control it before it controlled her. Ultimately they wanted her to learn how to use this power within her without fear.

Faith had come to realize that Bo's darkness was a latent part of her Fae abilities, much like her own had been. It was powerful, it was hungry, it was possessive and protective as long as it got its way. This darkness lived by a motto that Faith was all too familiar with… want, take, have. And Faith knew without a doubt that the darkness wanted her. She had beaten it, and it craved her power, craved her submission, so she knew it would come out to play. But Faith had a surprise for it, the only one that was going to be submitting was the darkness and it wasn't going to be to her, but to Bo.

Dyson got back up to his feet and leapt across the room at Faith. He caught her around the waist and threw her, she slammed into the wall with a bone jarring impact and came right back at him. They began to fight in earnest, trading blow for blow, kick for kick. Dyson's claws drawing more blood as Faith's fists did the same to him. Then Faith caught the telltale flash in Bo's eyes and the slow sexual slide of Bo's tongue across her upper lip and she knew the darkness was about to come out to play.

"You need to stop this right now!" Bo shouted at them, she could feel it. Pushing and pushing to come out and if they continued to fight, it would. Only she wasn't sure what it would do. Protect Faith, protect Dyson, or try to take them both out.

They ignored her, and moved closer to her as they continued to fight. Neither missed how the luminous blue of Bo's eyes, lightened and darkened as she fought for control. Then Bo was right in the thick of it, trading blows and kicks. Sometimes winning the war with the darkness, sometimes losing control of it, and she was powerful in this state, as she sent not only Dyson but Faith flying across the room more than once.

"The power, the darkness in you, you're feeling it, aren't you Bo?" Faith asked as she ducked punches and kicks from Dyson and Bo.

"Yes," Bo answered her, eyes glowing darkly.

"Then grab it, own it, take the power before it can take you." Faith encouraged. She knew Bo could do this, they all knew it even if Bo didn't. "You can do this, we know you can."

Neither Dyson nor Faith held back, not with each other and not with Bo. They were all going to be bloody messes before this day was over, but it was pain and blood they were willing to shed and endure for Bo.

Again Bo threw them across the room, she was almost as powerful as Faith in this state and it awed all three of them. As Faith and Dyson rose to go after her, Bo began to feed from them, and this time Faith didn't try to stop her. Instead she stayed still and watched the struggle go on in Bo's eyes and then the feeding stopped. Bo had won round two against the darkness. She smiled at them and then promptly passed out.

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For the next few weeks, Faith and Dyson pushed every button they could find to get this latent power of Bo's to come out to play. They added Willow, Xander, Val, Hale, Kennedy, a few of the more experienced Slayers and even Kenzi into the mix. Purposely they placed those that Bo cared for in danger, knowing full well that this latent power was at least for now protective of them.

They took her Slaying with them, throwing themselves against what seemed to be unbeatable odds. It was then that Faith truly came into her power and in the process both Faith and Bo learned more about the power within them as well as the darkness inside.

Faith could now at will, and without the Scythe, much to everyone's amazement and contrary to what the Myth told, feed her power to all the other Slayers. It wasn't until after she had done this for the first time during a field exercise; that she and everyone else realized she had actually done it twice before. Once in the basement of the abandoned building during the test run of Willow's mini-gps and once during her all-out fight with Buffy in the training room. They had to wonder what else the Myth had wrong. It seemed too that it wasn't only the Slayers who received her power, but Willow, Bo and Kenzi did a little too.

Slowly but surely Bo was learning how to control this power within her. Everyone helped out and was there for Bo in a way they never had been for Faith.

Over the course of those weeks Faith found that she had to stop Bo from feeding on the others less and less frequently. But, having to stop Bo even once was too much, they all knew that.

Faith was afraid that Bo was starting to rely on her as a crutch and that wouldn't do… **_no it wouldn't…. not at all._**

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Buffy was leaning against the wall in the doorway to the training area when Bo got there.

"We the first ones here?" Bo smiled at Buffy; they were usually the last ones to arrive.

"Not exactly," Buffy pushed herself away from the wall and moved slightly into the doorway, effective blocking Bo from going in.

"They're being awful quiet." Bo moved to go around Buffy, but found her way blocked. "What are you the door guard today? Is Faith still setting up one of her, '_let's test Bo'_, scenarios?"

"Not exactly," Buffy said with a cool tone, as she turned sideways and waved Bo threw the door.

In almost slow motion Bo followed Buffy's hand as it led her eyes to the other side of the room. She blinked, then blinked again, willing what she was seeing to be a dream. It couldn't be right, it couldn't be, Buffy was on their side. How could she have done this?

There was no denying though that Dyson was nothing but a bloody heap on the floor. His head twisted at an odd angle, his neck broken. Hale lay not too far from him, another bloody heap on the floor, a sword lay on the floor next to him, his head severed from his body next to it. Val was a few feet from her brother, bruised and bloody almost beyond recognition, but like the others, she too had stopped breathing.

"What… I don't… was there an attack… I don't understand." Some part of her understood exactly what had happened. She didn't want to believe it, but the truth was right there in front of her in the bloody dead vestiges of her friends… no, her family. She stared at Buffy in disbelief, and there was something about Buffy's eyes that weren't quite right.

"You know, I thought Dyson would be tougher given he's a wolf. Guess even a wolf can't take on the Chosen One. And Hale well he's not much of a fighter, pretty much human strength and of course these helped." Buffy tossed the ear plugs she'd been holding at Bo's feet. "Out of all of them Val put up the best fight, now she would have made a great Slayer."

"Buffy," Bo said gently and soothingly like she would to a frightened animal, while every part of her screamed in agony and rage. "I'm not sure what happened, or why you would do this. There has to be something else at play here, this isn't who you are…"

"This is exactly who **_I_**am," Buffy returned harshly. "But you're right, it isn't who **_she_** is. She's well… she's the Chosen One. She's what stands between the forces of evil and the rest of the world. She was created to destroy that evil and that's exactly what she did… until me, anyway," Buffy once again pointed at the bloody broken bodies of Bo's friends.

Bo fought back the tears and the pain; it was obvious that Buffy wasn't in her right mind. It was that thought alone that kept her darkness from taking control. "I think maybe we should go see Giles and Trick, Buffy, they can help you."

"I don't think Trick will be helping anyone, anytime soon or ever again actually. Did I forget to tell you I stopped by the Dal before I came here? And lucky me I got a twofer, Kenzi was there too. Worked out well, I wanted to save you and Faith for last."

"Buffy, you're not in your right mind, let us help you." Bo tried again, her hands balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms drawing blood.

"What are you the slow Fae of the group, they figured it out quickly." Once again Buffy pointed to the lifeless bodies across the room. "I'll make it simple for you. Buffy has left the building and I'm her new tenant. Well… not exactly. She's here, just locked up so deep in the basement, it's doubtful she'll ever see the light of day again."

"What?" Bo asked between clenched teeth. It was taking every ounce of strength she had not to rip Buffy to shreds. Only the knowledge that either Buffy had lost it, or in fact, this wasn't Buffy, but something wearing Buffy's face and body kept her from doing it.

"Are you thick? Then again you are, I found that out when I tried to hijack your body. I thought it would be easy to hitch a ride, given all the darkness in you, but damn, neither you nor that darkness likes to share. My first choice though was Faith, but she's grown strong over the years, stronger than I thought she ever could be. Then I tried Willow, but she too has grown stronger over the years. Now Buffy, she was my last choice given that she's such a little goody-two-shoes. But… all that hate and rage she had towards Faith, well… it's made it so pathetically easy to jump right in and shove little Miss Self-Righteous down into a dark corner and take over. I've been here almost from the beginning. And I must say, my performance thus far has been stellar. With the flipping and the flopping between believing in Faith… but the tears… well the tears, they were all me. A nice touch, don't you think? It was an Oscar worthy performance if I must say so myself!" Buffy winked at Bo.

Bo stared hard at Buffy. The dark part of her was right there and if it broke out, Bo knew that there wasn't anything or anyone in this world or any other that would be able to stop it, her, from ripping Buffy limb from limb. Stop her from sucking the life right out of Buffy until she was just as dead as Bo's friends on the other side of the room. It wouldn't matter that it wasn't Buffy controlling the body in front of her.

"You want to know the best part?" Buffy whispered conspiratorially to Bo. "Buffy, well there's a part of her that cheered me on, Miss Shiny Like a New Penny has darkness in her too. There was a part of her that loved ripping Dyson to shreds, loved the 'off with their head' parody from Wonderland that played out with his royal _Ash-hol-y-ness_. Loved beating Val to death, took pleasure in shutting up that smartass bitch Kenzi forever and Trick well she never did like him. Just like there's a part of her that will be cheering me on when I put you out of your misery. But she'll be cheering me on the loudest when I take out Faith. Who, for the record, she still thinks is nothing more than a psycho, a whore, a murderer and an animal. She'll be happy when I put that rabid dog down once and for all. And trust me, what I did to them will be nothing compared to what I'm going to do you and to her. Not to mention Buffy thinks it funny as hell that the 'big bad' you've all been looking for put a spy, me, right in your midst and not one of you ever figured it out." Buffy threw a right hook at Bo with every ounce of Slayer strength she possessed and sent her flying through the doorway and across the room.

Bo picked herself up from the floor and wiped away the blood dripping down her chin. She looked across the room at Buffy, taking in her cold face, the smirk she was wearing and even though she thought Buffy was no longer in the pilot seat, Bo believed what the thing wearing her body was saying. Buffy still believed all those things about all of them, she had just been playing them. With that thought Bo completely lost the battle to control her darkness within and she launched herself at Buffy with a howl of such pure rage, pain and anguish that it would have made Dyson proud had he still been alive to hear it.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter – 16**

They started trading blows, and even though she wasn't a Slayer, Bo had no problem keeping up with Buffy. Through all this Buffy kept on spewing every vile thing she could say about Dyson, Hale, Val, all of them. No one was left out. Mixed in between the vile comments were graphic descriptions of what she had done to Bo's family and friends and what she planned on doing to Bo and Faith before the day was done.

The thing with Buffy's face spit out how she had beaten Trick to within an inch of his life and then snapped his neck. How she had laughed with delight at the shocked expression on Kenzi's face when she had found Trick's beaten, lifeless body. After the laughter had finally passed, she told Bo how much joy she took in playing cat and mouse with Kenzi. Letting Kenzi think she had a chance to get away until eventually she grew tired of the game and had with one punch smashed Kenzi's head into nothing more than brain spattered skull fragments all over the wall of the Dal.

On and on Buffy talked, her voice laced with hate, with venom for Bo, for Faith, for all of them. Encouraging Bo to let her darkness out, because she really wanted to take her body for a joyride, she could have so much fun with it, and with Faith before she sent her for that final dirt nap.

The words swirled around Bo adding to her fury, making her see nothing but white-hot hate. She lashed out with her fists time and again, landing kick after kick. Incoherent words tumbling from her mouth as the tears rolled down her face. She continued to beat Buffy, until Buffy resembled nothing more than a bloody, swollen side of beef. Skillfully, slowly, and with more cunning than Bo ever knew she possessed she maneuvered Buffy into a corner.

Bo grabbed Buffy by the neck and slowly dragged her up the wall until they were eye level. Bo's eyes which were already shinning a luminous blue darkened until they were almost black, then she began to feed slowly. The darkness in Bo wanted Buffy to suffer. Bo wanted Buffy to feel the ecstasy laced with pain and know that before it was over, she would turn that pleasure into mind numbing agony. She would show Buffy, without any mercy or remorse, exactly how fine a line there was between pleasure and pain.

As Buffy began to struggle in Bo's grasp, as she pulled Buffy's essence, her very life from her, the part of Bo that was fighting against becoming the monster she feared she had always been, or would become, started to wage its own battle.

Suddenly as quickly as it started, it was over. Bo dropped Buffy to the floor. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself, in an effort to fend off the mind-numbing grief over what had happen and over what she had almost done. It was only her sheer strength of will that kept her from crumbling to the floor in anguish, in grief.

Bo forced it all down into some gray place, straightened her back and took a deep breath. She leveled her gaze at Buffy and from between clenched teeth told her; "I'm not going to kill you, even if every part of me wants to more than anything else I've ever wanted to do in my life. I won't, it's not who I am, it's not who any of us are." She paused to take another deep breath and to try and calm her fluctuating emotions.

When she felt the rage subside slightly she continued, "I can't take the chance that you really are some despicable, abhorrent thing walking around in Buffy's body and she truly is locked up somewhere inside watching in horror. Even if you're not possessed and totally insane, I won't kill you. In the end the most important thing, the real reason I won't put you down like the animal you accuse us of being is because if I did, regardless of what or who you are, that would make me just like you. I would become you and the darkness in me would win. As long as I'm breathing, as long as I have any fight within me, the darkness will never win."

Buffy looked up at Bo, gently rubbing her neck and what she did next made Bo truly believe that Buffy wasn't really possessed but had gone insane and was so far off the deep end there was no coming back. Buffy stare up at Bo and gave her the biggest, goofiest bloodiest grin Bo had ever seen in her life.

"I thought for sure you were a goner."

Bo spun around, "Dyson?"

"Me too," Buffy rasped out. Shit it hurt to talk, nothing a little Willow magic couldn't fix she hoped.

"The ear plugs were inspired," Hale chuckled, getting up from the floor, head intact.

She lost her mind, she had to, _they were dead_. There wasn't a scratch on either of them! What happened to the blood, the gore?

"See even Buffy knows I'm a better fighter then you two wusses." Val added, smirking at the two men, as she too stood up, the glamour Willow had cast on her, like she had on the others, falling off.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Bo shrieked at them on the verge of becoming hysterical.

"Well… um… we kinda set you up. Faith realized and we all agreed that…" Dyson tried but the kick Bo sent his way cut him off mid-sentence.

"Are you all out of your fucking minds? I could have killed her!"

"But you didn't." Buffy rasped, the goofy, bloody smile still gracing her face.

For all of one second Bo let herself bask in the euphoric feeling that in the worst of circumstances she hadn't let the darkness within her turn her into the monster she was afraid of becoming. Afraid she had always been for more than half her life. Then the rage came roaring back to life with a vengeance only this time it wasn't over what she had thought Buffy had done. It was rage over the stupid, insane stunt they had just pulled. But no matter how enraged she was that euphoric triumphant feeling lingered on. She glared at Buffy until the idiotic grin left her face, then she leveled that same glare at Val, Hale and Dyson in turn. "That's beside the point. You're all a bunch of fucking idiots, you had no way of knowing that I wouldn't kill her and not one of you could have stopped me if I had completely lost it."

"But I could have and it's exactly the point. You could have, but you didn't." Faith appeared out of thin air, Kenzi right behind her. She was followed by sheepish looking Kennedy, Xander and Willow. Willow had, being the totally kick-ass Wicca she was, had made them all invisible, at least temporarily.

"I should have known that the rest of you idiots were in on it too." Bo hissed, but her gaze was directed solely at Kenzi, "I can't believe you let them do this. But what I really can't believe is that you went along with it! I can't believe you betrayed me like this Kenzi!"

"Hey don't yell at her this was my idea." Faith interjected before Kenzi had a chance to answer. After all this was her idea, she was the one who had suggested it to Dyson. He had been hard to convince but not nearly as hard as Kenzi had been. She hadn't even bothered to tell Trick and Giles because she knew neither of them would have let her proceed with this totally outrageous and potentially fatal plan.

"What was this revenge? Because it sure as hell feels that way, Faith." Bo knew Faith understood exactly what she was saying.

"This wasn't revenge, this was about helping you, Bo."

"Helping me? Really? Explain to me how the hell letting me think my friends, my family were dead was supposed to fucking help me Faith?"

"I was becoming a crutch. You knew I could stop you, if you couldn't stop yourself. You needed to learn that you could stop yourself no matter what."

"Bull this feels a lot more like something the psycho bitch, that Buffy was so fond of telling us about would do to get even." Bo looked at Buffy and laughed harshly, "Guess it was my turn to finally meet the psycho."

Faith looked like she had been slapped after Bo stopped speaking. She moved towards Bo and quicker than anyone could react, including Faith, Bo shoved Faith from her with enough force to send her flying backwards a few feet. "You stay the hell away from me!" Bo screamed, conflicting emotions running rampant through her. Betrayal, rage, and anger at what they did and the knowledge that what Faith said was the truth, even she knew that. It didn't matter though, their method had been harsh. Downright cruel letting her think that her friends, people she considered her family were dead, even if it was to help and even if they thought there was no other way.

"Bo…" Kenzi started, then trailed off at the venom filled look Bo sent her way.

"I don't want to hear it. You can all go fuck yourselves and if I never have to see or speak to any of you again it won't be soon enough." Bo spat at all of them and turned to leave.

Faith wasn't going to be so easily deterred though; she moved quickly towards Bo and grabbed her by the arm to stop her flight. "Bo, I wish there had been another way but… so help me I couldn't think of one, none of us could."

Bo pried Faith's hand from her arm, "Don't touch me! Don't ever touch me again, don't look at me, don't talk to me. You just stay the fuck away from me you psycho, because so help me if you don't, I will hurt you!" Bo hissed at Faith, and with a final venomous look at everyone else in the room she turned and fled up the stairs. "And Kenzi I strongly suggest you find somewhere else to live." She tossed over her shoulder right before she disappeared from their sight.

Faith watched Bo leave, her shoulders slumped in defeat. Exactly what she had feared would happen, had. Bo hated her, and there was a good possibility she would forever. She had agonized over this, she knew perfectly well what the repercussions could be, and no matter how much she racked her brains she couldn't find another way. This had been the only way. Maybe, just maybe, they could have found another way, but they didn't have the luxury of time on their side. Something was coming, something ancient and powerful. If this thing had done its homework it would try to push every button to get Bo's darkness, hell even Faith's and Willow's to come out to play. As much as it killed her to do this to Bo, she did it anyway, she'd risk anything, everything, to ensure that Bo didn't turn into what she feared the most.

Given the choice between losing all that was between them, all there could be between them or the possibility of losing Bo to the darkness, well to Faith there really wasn't any choice at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bo was sitting on the couch at the Clubhouse staring up at the TV sightlessly, a quarter empty bottle of tequila clutched in her hand. She had a feeling it wouldn't matter if she drank a whole case of tequila nothing would be able to get her drunk tonight. She couldn't believe they had done that to her, no matter what their reasons. It had been outright cruel, horrifying and harsh. She felt betrayed in a way she never had before. She felt betrayed not just by them, but by herself as well, because deep down inside Bo knew they were right. She _had _been using Faith as a safety net, as a crutch. As long as she knew Faith could stop her, she would have never learned to control this new power, this darkness completely on her own.

She heard the front door open and the almost silent footsteps make their way in. Only a Slayer moved that quietly, and no matter what she might know was true, Bo didn't want to deal with Faith or any of them. "I told you to stay the fuck away from me Faith, and if Kenzi is with you take…"

"Wrong on both accounts," It was a little more raspy than her normal voice, but hell, Buffy kind of liked it.

"Thought I was pretty clear I didn't want to see any of…" The words died on her lips as she turned around and got a good look at Buffy.

Buffy was battered almost beyond recognition. Slayer healing had yet to truly kick in and unbeknown to Bo, Buffy hadn't let Willow use any of her healing spells. But it was the fingermarks on Buffy's neck that drained all the fury and anger right out of Bo. The darkness in her would have sucked the chi right out of Buffy, but it was Bo the woman who would have choked the life out of Buffy with her bare hands and have rejoiced when it was done. That was more sobering than anything else.

"How you doing?" Buffy asked as she snatched the tequila from Bo, took a long pull from the bottle and plopped down on the couch.

"I think I should be asking you that," Bo sat down next to her, reached out and gently touched the bruises on Buffy's neck. "I'm sorry."

"At least you didn't try to drown me. I really hate that. I think twice is enough for anybody, don't you? If I'm going out much rather it be with a happy, than a gurgle." Buffy smirked at Bo, took another pull of tequila and handed the bottle back to Bo.

"That, this… it isn't funny." Bo said at the same time a little snort of laughter escaped. She knew all about Buffy's 'water' issues. Bo's eyes strayed towards the door, she figured the rest of them couldn't be too far behind.

"Don't worry I came alone." Buffy didn't miss the sparkle of disappointment in Bo's eyes. Maybe she didn't hate them after all, though Buffy had no doubt that Bo was pissed off as all hell. She would be too, if the shoe had been on the other foot.

"Drew the short straw?"

"Nope, there was no straw drawing to be had. Came here, because the way I figured, I'd be the only one you wouldn't throw out on their ass." Buffy gingerly touched her face, "You do know that you hit like a brick shit-house right?"

"I really am sor…"

Buffy shook her head at Bo, "Don't apologize; I'm a big girl. I knew exactly what I was getting into. Hell, I volunteered to be the 'bad guy'."

"You're crazy, you do know that don't you? I could have killed you." Bo grounded out; it was hard though to be pissed at Buffy.

"But you didn't," Buffy gave Bo that goofy grin again and then laughed at the incredulous look Bo gave her in return.

"Not the point."

"But it is… just like Faith said, it is exactly the point." Buffy countered.

"Don't you mention that crazy, psycho bitc…"

"You know…" Buffy started cutting Bo right off, "…in the not too distant past I would have been the first to jump on the _'let's trash Faith', _train. Not so much with riding that train these days."

"Well maybe you should think about renewing your rail pass."

"Again, not too long ago I might have. Faith did what needed to be done, and we all helped her because we knew it was right. She didn't do it to be cruel, or for revenge, she did it because of what you mean to her, what you mean to everyone. She did for you what no one ever did for her. She risked everything to help you."

"Never thought I'd see this day, you defending Faith and saying she risked everything is a little extreme don't you think. It's not like I can kill her." As she said it, Bo knew that wasn't what Buffy was talking about. She knew exactly what Buffy was talking about. On one hand it pissed her off even more that Faith would risk everything and on the other hand it thrilled her to no end that someone would do something like this for her.

"Extreme, no, she knew, we all did on some level that eventually you would forgive everyone involved. But Faith, being the ringleader, well none of us were sure of that. She might have gotten just that forgiveness and in the process lost everything else. You…" Buffy paused on purpose. She thought she had been bad at relationships but Bo and Faith made her look like the begin all and end all Queen of the perfect relationships.

"All of you are family to her; this is her home, the first one I think she's ever truly had in her life. But if you choose not to forgive her, or if things had gone wrong today and she couldn't stop you, well it all would rest on her shoulders. All the things she's wanted her whole life, things we could have given her," Buffy waved towards herself, to let Bo know she meant her and Scoobs, "… which in our ignorance, our self-righteousness, the 'we're better than you attitude', never gave her, she got here with you…" Again Buffy paused on purpose, letting the emphasis of what she was saying fall on the fact that she was referring to Bo, more so than the rest of the Fae contingency. Then she thought screw it, it was about time the elephant in the room was finally acknowledged, "Friends, family, and whatever it is that is happening between the two of you beyond your '_friends-with-benefits' _package, and a place to call home. That's all here, in this town with you, with the others, so saying she risked everything isn't extreme at all it's an understatement of the epic kind."

Bo had known all this on some level. She had already forgiven them, even if she was still pissed off. Kenzi had her best interests at heart and yes sometimes she took it a little too far, but she did it out of love. They all did, Faith included. But unlike the others Faith's betrayal seemed to cut her the deepest. Bo knew it was because Faith had come to mean more to her than she could have ever imagined. So it was time, she decided, to finally take the white elephant by the tusks and drag it out into the light.

Bo didn't answer Buffy, she just nodded, saluted her with the tequila bottle and took a long drink.

Buffy just smiled at her, then grimaced when her lip split open again, "Did I already tell you that you hit like a Slayer?"

"I believe you said a shit-brick house. What is that any way?" Bo laughed.

"Got me, never could figure that out." Buffy laughed and grimaced in pain again.

"You really should let Willow do a healing spell or something on you."

"Well… she sort of… kind of did… I just need to say the words for it to take effect and I'll be good as new." Buffy mumbled.

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"Figured you'd be more willing to talk to me looking like this than if I showed up looking like my normal Suntan Barbie self," Buffy shrugged, they both knew it was the truth.

"That was downright sneaky of you, and what they hell are you waiting for?"

Buffy uttered a few words and she was all shiny, pain free and new again. "So…" she asked with an arched eyebrow, "… how long are you going to let them squirm before you let them know you forgive them?"

"I think a couple of days will do…" Bo snickered. She doubted that they would give her that much time before they started showing up at the door. She figured Kenzi would be the first to try. And Faith, well Faith she might have to seek out Faith herself.

Buffy smiled, she had gotten off easily. She wouldn't want to be in any of their shoes, most especially Faith's. "That'll work. I think Giles and Trick should be done lecturing them by then."

"They found out? Oh shit, wish I could have seen that."

"It was funny! They were all trying to hide behind each other… And damn Trick can yell really loud, he hurt my ears…" Buffy eyes were dancing with laughter; it really had been funny as hell. She and Bo both burst out laughing at the same time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"It's the calm before the storm and I must say I find it rather disquieting." Giles said to Trick in a hushed voice.

Like every other time they were getting ready to face a big bad, things seemed to get quiet and they were growing quieter by the day, as if everything and everyone was holding their breath in anticipation of what was to come. They all hated this time and unlike when they had decided to take the fight to the big bad, they couldn't this time. They would actually need to know who or what the big bad was first and they didn't. In a very real way they were no closer to knowing what or who was coming or the reason why, only that it was.

Months in and they still had no idea who the leader of this band of Slayer-vamps was or even if there were other types of supernatural beings involved with them. The only thing they did know for fact was that the Shadow Men had stolen the power for the Slayer from a Fae. They were almost positive that it was Scáthach even though she hadn't been named in the ancient watcher's history book they had found. Nor had the text been clear on how exactly the Shadow Men had managed to obtain the power or the Scythe.

This new 'big bad' was taking its sweet ass time making itself and its plans known. It was making them all a little twitchy and nervous, and even though no one had said it out loud they all had to wonder why.

"I have to agree with you there Giles, we're missing something, I just don't know what." Trick was worried.

"Take the night off already." Buffy told them both having overheard. Giles and Trick had been working harder than all of them put together. They spent every free moment they had researching and then researching more. "Let it go for tonight, relax, start tomorrow off with a clear head."

"Or a hang-over…" Kenzi added. "Oh and look the Belle of the Ball and her Court Jester finally decided to show themselves."

"Gee I wonder why you two are late…" Kennedy snickered.

"Laugh it up Trust-Fund." Both Bo and Faith glared at Kennedy who just winked at them and busted out laughing.

Bo indicated to Faith she was going to the bar to get them a drink and then meet her over by the pool table where Willow was. Over the last two weeks things were slowly but surely returning to how they were between Bo and Faith prior to the incident. Bo was still a little bit on the furious side and she made no secret of it. Kenzi had spent more of that first week sleeping on Faith's couch then she had in her own bed.

"Your girl still giving you grief?" Kennedy asked Faith.

"Yes, no… I don't know and she's not my girl, we're just friends." Even as she said it Faith knew that wasn't the truth. She wasn't completely blind to what was happening between them. Nor was she unaware that her feelings for Bo where decidedly more than just friends. She also wasn't oblivious to the fact that she had no idea what to do about it; she had never been in this position with anyone before. She was absolutely, positively fucking clueless on how to take this thing between her and Bo to the next level. Maybe she would ask Kennedy at least she had some experience in this department.

"Right… Just like me and Will are only friends," Kennedy couldn't keep the snicker out of her tone. "Well, at least she's talking to you again. Flowers always seem to work with Willow; you might want to try them."

Faith didn't even bother to answer Kennedy. Only three people knew that it had been Bo who had hunted down Faith when she realized that Faith wasn't going to come seeking her. Kenzi had been there and had made a mad dash out of Faith's apartment; she had already dealt with the shit storm. Beside these two needed to start working things out on their own, not to mention Faith hadn't believed her when she told her Bo was pissed yes, but she didn't hate them. Faith however refused to believe that she was included in the 'them'.

Bo found Faith sitting on the couch staring blankly at the wall. It looked like she hadn't sleep in days….

_"You look like shit, Faith." Not exactly how she had planned to start the conversation off. Then again, she was still pissed and had no intention of curbing that anger. _

_"Pretty much feel like it too," Faith mumbled to the floor, not quite able to look Bo in the eyes. She didn't want to see the hate blazing in those liquid brown eyes for her, it would completely shatter her._

_"So you're just gonna sit here and wallow in self-pity. You're not even going to bother to try? What kind of friend, what kind of lover does that make you? Do we, does all of this…. Do __**I**__ mean so little to you?"_

_"What? NO…" Faith rose up from the couch and started pacing. "You… all of you… here, this place, it means everything to me. I just… I didn't know what to do. All of it is so new to me…" Faith stopped pacing and turned around to face Bo. She raised her head and looked directly into Bo's eyes. "I couldn't bear the thought of you hating me or seeing you look at me that way."_

_"So you decided to do nothing? How the fuck was that going to fix anything?"_

_"How was me telling you that I won't apologize for what I did, that I would do it all over again to help you conquer this power, this darkness within you. How the hell is that going to fix anything?" Right there was the real reason Faith didn't come to her. She wouldn't apologize for the cruel, harsh method she had to employ to help Bo and she had convinced herself that very act would only serve to make Bo hate her more._

_"Well you just did tell me and I don't hate you any more than I did before!" Bo yelled at her, and she watched as Faith all but crumpled to the floor in defeat. What the fuck? Suddenly Bo realized that her words could be misconstrued. Goddess she was just as bad at this as Faith, they were truly a sorry pair. "Faith…" _

_This wasn't her, she was a fighter. She had been a fighter her whole life. Her childhood had sucked, her adolescents had sucked and for the most part all the years after Sunnydale had sucked. She had fought her way back from insanity, from evil to finally find the light. She had struggled, cried and scratched her way to become the person she always wanted to be. She had never given up so easily before and she sure as shit wasn't going to now. The pity party was over and she would with her last breath fight for this, her friends, these people she considered family, her home and for Bo._

_"Fine, you want to hate me for what I did then hate me. I'm still not going to apologize. You, all of you mean the world to me and I would do anything, anything to keep you all safe. And I would risk everything to help any one of you. That hasn't changed, it will never change. If there had been another way to help you, I would have chosen that, but there wasn't. So I took the risk, I gambled knowing what the possible consequences could be. I looked at all of my choices and for me the only choice that existed was helping you, no matter what the consequences to me. So hate me all you want, but know one thing I'm not going anywhere."_

_Now there was the Faith that Bo had come to know. Despite how pissed off Bo was at her, she was elated she was back. Self-pity didn't look well on the sultry, confident, cocky, and caring Slayer, Bo had come to know. "Good because I don't want you to go anywhere. And let me be clear this time, I don't hate you. I never did, I'm not sure I ever could. But before you start doing a happy dance, I am pissed off as all hell and you've got a lot of groveling in your future!"_

_Faith gave Bo a smile that was so brilliant that it was blinding and she felt like she could breathe for the first time in days. She would grovel happily. Faith went the whole clichéd route of groveling, with flowers, candy, dinner, back rubs, breakfast in bed, even if she had been banned temporarily from said bed and she did it all with a smile on her face._

"Well I don't know about you, but that was enough share and care for the night." Kennedy told Faith breaking her out of her musing.

"For the month more like," Faith laughed, "Let's go see if Red and Tinkerbell want to shoot a game or two."

They made their way over to Willow and Bo who were laughing over some antiquated Fae law they had found the other day. Much to everyone's surprise Willow and Bo had become fast friends. Willow's enthusiasm over all things Fae and Bo's thirst to learn more about her '_people_' had brought them together initially. The fact they were both involved with Slayers fast-tracked their friendship and it was solidified when they started sharing stories of the dumb crap both their Slayers had done.

What had truly thrown everyone into a tailspin though, was the friendship between Buffy and Kenzi. All it had taken was Buffy to put her life on the line literally that day in the training room to help Bo and with that one unselfish act she had made a friend for life in the form of Kenzi. They actually got along famously, they had a lot in common and Kenzi had, much like Faith had done years ago, showed Buffy how to find the fun again. In fact they were on the other side of the Dal looking for their prey. The unsuspecting clueless Fae male that would buy them drinks all night.

"Game of team pool anyone?" Kennedy asked the two women.

"Slayers versus _the real_ hot chicks with superpowers, the Witch and the Succubus rematch?" Willow asked with a sly look.

"Sure Red, only this time no abracadabra mojo and no Tinkerbell touch mojo on the opposite team or yourselves." The last time they had played team pool, Bo had decided to play dirty. She had touched both Kennedy and Faith and let a little bit of her chi seep into them, completely forgetting that both Slayers had been out earlier slaying garden variety vampires and were already sporting the double hh's. It was iffy but for a good long minute everyone in the Dal that night would have sworn they were about to be treated to a live action porn show on the pool table. All the patrons in the Dal, including strickly dickly Kenzi and Buffy, were left squirming in their seats just from watching the kisses that Faith and Kennedy laid on their respective lovers.

"Fine, then no Slayer mojo either," Willow huffed.

"Slayer mojo?"

"Yeah, like super eyesight…"

"Not like we can turn that off Red."

"Not like we can turn it off either Joe."

Faith didn't even dignify Bo with an answer; they all knew she was lying. Instead she just raised her eyebrow and smirked at her.

"Besides," Bo smirked right back at Faith, "thought you liked my touch mojo, Joe."

Okay… so maybe Bo wasn't still quite as mad at her as Faith thought. Flirting was definitely a step in the right direction to getting things between them on a personal level back on the right track.

"I like your touch mojo," Kennedy volunteered and was promptly rewarded by a smack to the back of the head by both Willow and Faith. "What? I do!"

"You're such an ass, Trust Fund."

"Yep, but you love me anyway."

"Please, I barely tolerate you." Faith turned her attention back to Bo, "Now where were we?" Her eyes trailed lazily over the length of Bo and then back up again. When she reached Bo's eyes again, she let her need, amusement and a little bit of what she felt for her show through.

Bo inched closer to Faith until there was barely enough room for air between them. Earlier in the night she had decided to let what was left of her anger go. She wanted this back on track between them, not just their friendship, all of it and she wanted to see where that track would lead them.

Like Faith, Bo too acknowledged that her feelings for Faith had grown beyond friendship. And just like Faith she was pretty clueless on how to take them to the next level in their relationship or lack thereof. Maybe Willow could help her with that part at least she had some experience in that department.

"I think you were just about to tell me how much you liked my touch mojo." Bo whispered lowly to Faith.

"I more than like your Succubus mojo, but I like your everyday, just plain old Bo mojo even more." Faith with her words and without even realizing started them down the road on a new set of tracks.

"I have to agree, Slayer mojo is hot, but I'll take Faith mojo over it any day." And Bo with her word added a few more tracks of her own to the new set that Faith had started.

"Gods I think I just got a cavity from that it was so sweet," Kennedy laughed and was promptly rewarded by a smack to the back of the head by Willow, Bo and Faith. "Ow! I did though, wanna see?"

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"Well what about him over there?" Buffy asked Kenzi. She nodded her head in the direction of the rather large dopey looking Fae with one eye hiding behind a laptop on the other side of the Dal.

"They Eye? Oh NO… No… and No… he smells like old pants!"

Buffy shot Kenzi and incredulous look, "I don't even want to know how you know that," she started looking around for other prey. Her wandering eyes eventually led her to the pool table. She smiled indulgently as she watched Faith, Bo, Willow and Kennedy. The four of them had become thick as thieves and Buffy couldn't ever recall a time in all the years she had known Faith when she had seen her so happy and open as she was now.

Faith had found, here amongst these people what she had been looking to find in Sunnydale all those years ago. A home, friends and family and Buffy was happy for her and sad at the same time. Sad that they had been so ignorant, so self-absorbed and self-righteous that they had failed to see that was all Faith was looking for all those years ago. All those wasted years, Buffy wished things could have been different, but only if that wish still allowed Faith to find this place and these people.

As she watched Dyson, Giles, Xander, Trick, Val and Hale join the others over at the pool table, Buffy realized that Faith wasn't only the one that had found a place they could call home, they all had. Buffy, Willow, all of them had never felt anywhere in the whole world a place where they felt completely as ease, completely accepted, completely free to just be who they were, completely at home until they had come here. And they had Faith to thank for that.

"Okay I lied; I do want to know how you know he smells like old pants." Buffy turned back to Kenzi with a laugh. Then her eyes fell upon the Fae who just walked through the door, "Who's that?"

Kenzi didn't miss the way Buffy's voice lowered slightly or the sparkle of interest in her eyes. She turned around to see who had come in, and then her jaw dropped to the floor. "No, no and more no's then I could say in a lifetime!" Kenzi knew all about Buffy's 'thing' for bad-boys, even the bad-boys with souls and there was no way in hell was she going to let Vex get added to the list.

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They had been soundly and unquestionably beaten by the Wiccan and Succubus. Kennedy blamed Faith for it, she had been completely and utterly distracted by the little kisses and touches that Bo had been showering her with throughout the game. Bo had used her, 'just Bo' kisses and touches so Kennedy couldn't shout foul. Then again she wouldn't have anyway, she was happy they were getting back on track, and she was sure if she asked any of the others they would be too. "Next game, I'm on Willow's team."

"From what I know, you were on Willow's team before Willow was even on the team." Bo laughed and then leaned over and nipped Faith's neck again. She was loving how flustered Faith was getting from her love bites. It was a two sided street though, Faith was making her just as flustered with her kisses and touches.

"I was born on that team," Kennedy told them, "and don't know about the rest of you but I could use another drink."

"I'll get 'em Trust Fund, have to use the bathroom anyway." Faith pulled Bo to her and leaned in. Her lips were soft and sensuous as she kissed Bo slowly and thoroughly. They held a promise for later that night, one that Bo gladly accepted and whole heartily returned.

When Faith exited the bathroom she stopped to watch Bo as she talked animatedly to Giles. She knew they were finally crossing that line tonight between just friends to something more. It scared and excited her at the same time. She let her eyes roam the room and she wondered how she had managed to get so lucky. A part of her didn't think she deserved all this, friends, family, a lover, a home and another part of her realized it was all part of the grand scheme in her redemption.

Bo looked up just then and caught Faith staring at her, the look was soft and caring and filled with the promise of so much more. She returned that look, her eyes voicing everything neither had the courage to say to the other. Then the look Faith was giving her change. It was still as soft, but it hinted at understanding, acceptance and a touch of sadness. Then Faith's eyes drifted over her shoulder, she nodded indicating that someone was behind her, then she caught Bo's eyes once again and softly smiled.

Bo smiled quizzically at Faith. She didn't have a chance to wonder at the looks or the smile. She felt a hand on her shoulder and her name whispered softly. She turned and found herself staring into a pair of expressive, loving brown eyes she had begun to think she would never see again. As Bo stared into those familiar eyes she didn't see as Faith quietly slipped out the back door of the Dal.

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	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter -17**

Warm, loving, familiar and very missed, drifted through the haze in Bo's mind as she stared into Lauren's eyes. Other than the soft whisper of her name, there had been no hello, no how are you, no nothing. Just this unforeseen falling into the depths of Lauren's eyes and nothing and no one in the world existed for Bo, but Lauren.

"Lauren?" Bo questioned in a half whisper.

It was all there in that fearful, yet hopeful, utterance of her name. A question asked without words and Lauren did the only thing she could. She let her heart speak for her. "I'm back," it was said with the same self-depreciating humor that was always evident in her tone and just a little bit of something more. It was typical Lauren.

"I can see you're back, Doctor," Bo smiled and let her eyes lazily travel over the length of that long lanky frame.

"And glad we are," Trick added, having finally found his voice. He was truly glad she was back, but on the other hand, it saddened him as well. Saddened him because he cared for Lauren, Faith and Bo, and he knew that someone in this little triangle his Granddaughter was involved in was going to get hurt.

Trick's voice brought the world sharply back into focus for Bo. With the world came Faith and suddenly it was clear to Bo what that smile and those eyes had been telling her.

"We're glad about what?" Kennedy asked as she and Willow rejoined them at the pool table. Both had missed the little scene between Bo and Lauren. Kennedy didn't wait for an answer, before she continued, "Can't be because we've got drinks, because we don't have any! What did Faith go to Mexico to get the shots?" Kennedy looked around the bar for her, but didn't see Faith anywhere. "Where the hell is she anyway?"

"She right over ther…" Bo trailed off when she realized that Faith was no longer where she was pointing. "Or at least she was a minute ago."

"Well she isn't now," Kennedy stated the obvious.

"She left, if it's who I think you're talking about." Lauren supplied.

"Was she about yay high?" Kennedy asked Lauren, as she indicated with her hand over her head, "long curly-ish chestnut hair wearing black leather pants, painted on ginny-tee, not to mention smokin' hot?"

"Sounds like the woman I saw leave." Lauren had noticed the woman by the back door staring at Bo as she had made her way over to the pool table. How could she not notice her? She might be in love with Bo, but she was neither blind nor dead. The woman screamed sex, desire, smoke and flames and yet at the same time, there was something about her that was soft and sensual and loving. The woman, Faith apparently, had noticed her too. The leather clad siren had nodded at her in greeting, and Lauren had the strangest sensation that the Faith knew exactly who she was and why she was there. Then Faith gave her one of the most tender, gentlest smiles Lauren had ever received right before she slipped out the back door like a wisp of smoke.

"You think Faith is _smokin' hot_?" Willow snarled, though her eyes were twinkling.

"Who doesn't think Faith is hot, hell even Kenzi and Buffy think she's hot and we all know that Tinkerb…"

"Lauren," Trick interjected before Kennedy could go any further. He was quite sure, and if the relieved look Bo was giving him was any indication, he was right that this wasn't the way Bo wanted Lauren to find out about her relationship with Faith. While neither woman had admitted it out loud to anyone or to each other, Bo and Faith were in a relationship, like it or not. "Meet Kennedy, Willow, Xander and Giles."

Kennedy's eyes grew as round as saucers. She was positive if she turned and looked at Willow she'd have the same round eyes as she did. She held out her hand to Lauren purely out of habit, "Um… nice to meet you."

Willow just gave a little wave, not trusting herself to speak. Talk about lousy timing, though they all knew that sooner or later, Lauren would return, regardless of whether she was here to tell Bo she would or wouldn't be staying. They knew enough about her to know Lauren wouldn't simply disappear into thin air. That would raise far too many alarms for the people here that cared about her.

Giles forever the gentleman and diplomat greeted Lauren with a warm smile. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Dr. Lewis. I've been looking forward to it; Patrick tells me you are the resident expert on all things Fae, and even of the supernatural, from a genetic perspective. I am hoping you would be so kind, once you've settled back in, to indulge me with some conversations on the subject."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Lauren smiled, feeling a little left out. These people knew who she was, and seemed to be a little shocked by her appearance. She on the other hand, had no clue who they were, and couldn't recall ever hearing any of their names mentioned by anyone. Bo, well Bo now seemed to be staring at her with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.

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Kenzi didn't even give Buffy a chance to meet Vex, she just grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the pool table the instant she realized who the blonde was that was approaching Bo.

"No… no… and more no's," Kenzi told Buffy as she dragged her over to the pool table. Vex was off the menu, whether Buffy liked it or not. Tonight seemed to be the night for the unexpected to show their faces at the Dal. First Vex, then Lauren, all they needed was the Morrígan and the elusive 'big bad' and the circle would be complete. It must be a full moon.

Kenzi stopped in front of Lauren, all but pushing Bo out of the way, "Well, well, didn't think we were ever going to see you again. Welcome back." Kenzi said half sarcastically and half sincerely, then she asked bluntly, "Why are you back?"

Lauren had to laugh, it was typical Kenzi. The forever protective pit-bull, Lauren had to admire her in a way. They all knew if it hadn't been for Kenzi more than likely Bo would be dead right now. For that Lauren owed her everything. They weren't exactly bosom buddies, but they had after the Garuda and before Lauren had left, managed to become friends. It wouldn't stop Kenzi from being Kenzi though and Kenzi, if nothing else, would always be protective of Bo.

"Nice to see you too," Lauren smirked. This wasn't going exactly the way she imagined. She had gone to the Clubhouse first, and when she found the house empty and the door surprisingly locked, she headed straight over to the Dal. She figured even if Bo wasn't here, Trick would know where to find her or when Bo would be back. "And I think you know why I'm back."

Buffy stared at the tall blonde, the sort of hot, dorky looking guy in leather forgotten for the moment. The wheels in her head spinning, something was telling her she should know who this woman was and then the wheels stopped. "Lauren?"_ Oh shit!_ Buffy's immediately scanned around the pool table then around the bar, but she didn't find who she was looking for. She wondered if the others realized that Faith was nowhere to be found, and by the way both Willow and Kennedy's eyes were darting around she knew they were looking for her too.

"I seem to be at a disadvantage," Lauren eyed the petite blonde holding hands with Kenzi and had to wonder how much had changed since she was gone. As far as she knew Kenzi had and always would play for the other team.

It took a second for Buffy to get what Lauren was saying, "Oh, I'm Buffy." Buffy smirked as if her name would explain everything.

"Buffy? Now that's an unusual name… Vex," He said by way of introduction and totally intruding in on the little gathering at the pool table. He had spotted Buffy and Kenzi the second he walked in the door. It only took him a minute to realize that the blonde was checking him out and when he saw Kenzi arguing with her, he just knew it was about him. That if nothing else intrigue him, he made a b-line for them and then just simply followed when Kenzi started dragging the cute blonde away. "Welcome back, Doctor," it was an afterthought, he actually liked the human. She had after all fixed his arm.

"Vex," Lauren nodded her head in his direction. She wanted to hate him, he was Dark Fae after all, but she found, try as hard as she could, she couldn't. Didn't mean she trusted him, still there was something endearing about him and she knew for a fact she wasn't the only one who felt this way.

Bo was oblivious to them all. She was beginning to feel overwhelmed. Lauren was back! She was overjoyed and at the same time she was scared shitless. Lauren could have come back only to tell her they couldn't be together, though Bo didn't believe that. It wasn't what she saw in Lauren's eyes. Only a short time ago Bo would have said yes so fast it would have made everyone's head spin. She was still in love with Lauren; those feelings were still there just as strong and just as sure. But… and Bo couldn't help think to herself there always seemed to be a _but. _But… in the short time Lauren had been gone; Bo's world had completely changed. That change had come with a name and that name was Faith. To the casual observer it might look like Bo had gotten herself into another love triangle like she had with Dyson and Lauren, but Bo knew that wasn't the truth. She might still be in love with Lauren, but her feelings for Faith ran far deeper than they ever had for Dyson. Deeper than even she had suspected, and they were all there right now on the surface and Bo was truly at a loss.

Trick watched the growing circus with alarm. They had yet to inform the Morrígan what was going on and he was afraid that someone would actually slip up and say something in front of Vex. That would most assuredly cause a shit storm they didn't need. He wracked his brains trying to figure out a way to get Vex out of the mix before words like Slayer or Triune worked their way into the conversation. He was coming up empty, he couldn't just tell Vex to leave, the Dal was a neutral gathering ground for all Fae, besides that would make him suspicious and the last thing they needed was Vex nosing around. Surprisingly it was Hale who managed to extract them from the situation.

"Lauren," Hale drawled as he joined the crowd at the pool table. In the blink of an eye and just with that one word he became every bit of the snotty, better-than-humans Fae royalty he had been raised to be, yet had never become.

"Hale, good to see y…" Lauren trailed off, the derogatory look and Hale's demeanor was anything but friendly and inviting. What the hell was going on? She saw Hale nod to someone behind her and the next thing she knew a pair of strong hands were pushing her down to her knees.

"I believe it's customary for _chattel _to kneel before the Ash," The words felt bitter upon Hale's tongue and went against everything he believed.

"What?" Lauren stared up at Hale. The man standing in front of her was someone she didn't know.

"Take her," Hale commanded.

"Now wait just a goddamn minute." Bo moved towards Hale, ready to rip him a new one. What the hell did he think he was doing? This was Lauren! She barely made it a half step before she found Trick blocking her way. She glared down at him and if it hadn't been for the intense training over the last few weeks she might have missed the slight shake of his head, or the quick dart of his eyes at Vex. And so, that was how the signal to back off was passed from person to person around the pool table, even Lauren. "We'll be following right behind you, don't worry."

Lauren stared at Bo in disbelief at first. How could Bo back down so easily, so quickly, even if it was Hale calling the shots. Bo knew everything that had happened with Lachlan and there was no way in hell that Lauren was going back to that cold, dark cell. She'd rather die first. It was while she was staring at Bo that she caught the subtle movements, and then as the signal was passed from person to person. Something was going on here that they didn't want Vex to know about, this was all for show, or at least that was what Lauren was assuming. She prayed fervently to any deity that might be listening that she hadn't misread what was going on.

Vex looked around at all the tense faces and decided to hightailed it out of there. He had just managed, or so he thought, to get back into the good graces of the Morrígan and he didn't think she would appreciate it if he caused shit with the new Ash of the Light Fae over a human. Beside, somewhere deep inside he knew that Hale would never really hurt Lauren, or any of them for that matter. Retreat for now was his best option; he would let this play out. There was something going on here, and eventually he would find out exactly what the game was all about.

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Bo stood by the back door of the Dal indecision clearly etched across her face. Follow after Lauren or find Faith first? She was being pulled in two different directions. On the one hand she knew Lauren was safe, both Trick and Giles had gone with her, and she believed whole-heartily that Hale had no intentions of harming Lauren in any way. Faith on the other hand was out there alone, and while Faith was quite capable of taking care of herself, it truly wasn't her physical well-being that Bo was worried about.

"Pumpkin, go to the Rabbit Hole, we'll find Joe." Kenzi didn't envy Bo. Hell she didn't envy any of them. Someone was going to get hurt, and it was quite possible that it could be all three of them. She might not act like she cared about what happened to Lauren, they weren't exactly best buds, but somehow over the course of the last year, Kenzi had learned to respect her, and if she was honest, even like her a little. She no more wanted to see Lauren get hurt then she did either Bo or Faith, both of whom she considered family.

"I need to talk to her, I need to explain… I need to tell her… I need to make sure she's alright." _Tell Faith what_, Bo asked herself. That she was still in love with Lauren, that hadn't changed. That she still felt it as strongly as she had before Lauren left, in some ways even stronger. Tell Faith, that she had promised herself that until Lauren got back that she would only be with someone when it was absolutely necessary for her survival. That she had kept that promise too, then Faith happened and she hadn't been able to resist her. Tell Faith that she had been drawn to her from the first second she had laid eyes on her. That at first she thought it was just lust, Slayers, Faith in particular ran hot. Then it all changed on Bo after the first time they were together, as just Bo and Faith, not as the Slayer and the Succubus. How she had realized that it had been more than just lust right from the start, which had drawn her to Faith. How she couldn't really explain exactly what it was that _'called'_ to her about Faith, just that something about her did, much in the same way that something _'called' _to her about Lauren.

Maybe, just maybe, she should tell Faith, that somewhere along the way she had begun to fall in love with her and if what she saw in Faith's eyes tonight was true, Faith had begun to fall in love with her too.

How would telling Faith or even Lauren, help anything or anyone at all?

This was such a mess and right now Bo felt raw and exposed. She knew too, that Faith had to be feeling the same way.

How, Bo wondered, was it even possible to be in love with one person and half in-love, or at the very least, on the way to being head-over-heels in love with someone else at the same time?

All of it spun around her mind, but she kept returning to one thought over and over again. Lauren was safe, she was with people she knew and cared about her. Faith on the other hand was out there all alone. "I'm going to find Faith," Bo turned to leave and was stopped by Kenzi.

Kenzi gritted her teeth, a year ago she would have bet her life she'd be the last one to say what she was about to tell Bo, "You need to go to Lauren. She came back for you Bo and walked right into this mess. Right now she's probably scared and confused. I know if it was me, it's you I'd want with me not Trick or anyone else. Faith… well Joe, she can take care of herself and I know it's not fair… but she knew this could happen. Like it or not you need to be with Lauren right now, no matter what you decide in the end."

At that moment Bo despised Kenzi for being right. Lauren had walked in here blind and had been swept up without permission into the chaos. It wasn't fair to Lauren, to any of them. And Bo didn't know if she could ever make it right, not for her, not for Lauren and not for Faith.

"And you need to go with Bo to the Rabbit Hole, Kenzi." Buffy butted in, Slayer hearing did have its uses. She waved both Bo and Kenzi off when they started to object. "We'll find Faith, I promise."

Both Kenzi and Bo were going to object again, but there was something about the determined set of Buffy's shoulders. The resolute look of her eyes that told them Buffy would keep her promise, so instead, albeit reluctantly, they both nodded their heads in agreement.

"I'll take them over there," Xander offered.

Bo paused at the back door and turned around. She clenched her jaw, this went against every cell in her body. She should be looking for Faith, not them. "Tell her…" Bo hesitated, she knew what she wanted to say, to truly say. But, if she did would that be fair to any of them? Goddess-be-damned, this was such a fucking mess. "When you find her, tell her to call me, please."

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Regardless of what Lauren thought when she was taken from the Dal, she still half expected to end up in one of the cold, dark cells beneath the Ash's Compound. Instead she found herself sitting, quite dumfounded, on a plush couch in what she knew was the 'Play/Reading' room of the Ash's compound. A section of the compound, she reminded herself, she had never been in over the years she had served the prior Ash's, quite simply because she was human.

"I imagine this is quite disconcerting for you," Giles handed Lauren a shot of tequila and a beer, then sat down beside her. At her quizzical look, he told her, "You look like you could use it and this seems to be the drinks of choice of the girls when they're having a rough night."

"Thank you." Lauren threw back the shot and took a long draw from the beer. "You're not Fae are you?"

"Me? No, I'm very much human." Giles chuckled.

"Who has a little bit of magic in him," Trick added as he sat down opposite Lauren and Giles.

"You're a Warlock?" This was bizarre and Lauren had to fight the urge to pinch herself to see if she was awake. What she wanted to do most was scream on the top of her lungs for someone to tell her what was going on. That and she wanted to know where the hell Bo was. Did she only come back for Bo to be abandoned by her?

"I prefer Witch actually. Most especially since Warlocks tend to be evil." Giles stated matter-of-factly.

"I didn't kn…" Lauren stopped midsentence when Hale sat down next to her.

"Sorry about back there," Hale sincerely meant it. He considered Lauren a friend, he respected her and it went against what he believed to treat her like chattel.

Lauren covertly looked at Hale, she wanted to believe him. Past experience had taught her to be cautious of The Ash, no matter who he or she was. But looking at him now, everything about him shouted of the Hale that she knew. "I can't believe you're the Ash." She blurted out, and fought against the tiny part of her that yelled for her to not be so casual with him. To get on her knees and bow down to him, like she had for so many years with the prior Ash. That, she was determined, was never going to happen. She might be back in Fae town, but she had no intention of ever bowing down to anyone ever again. Not of her own free will, anyway.

"Oh he's the _Ash-hol-y-ness_, all right." Kenzi snickered as she joined them. They had made it to the compound in record time thanks to Xander's lead foot and the portable siren he had 'borrowed' from an unmarked police car.

Hale just growled at Kenzi, and gave her a thousand watt smile.

Lauren couldn't help it, she laughed. It was a wonder sometimes that Kenzi hadn't been killed, she had to be the most outspoken, defiant human the Fae had ever come across.

Nodding at Giles in thanks for vacating his spot, Bo sat down next to Lauren. She asked her softly, "You okay?"

"I'll let you know after someone tells me what the hell is going on." It was said with a mixture of amusement, anger and confusion.

"Well… once upon a time in Fae Wonderland…" Kenzi started.

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It was Buffy who found Faith.

She had gone to her apartment first even though she figured it would be the last place Faith went. Willow and Kennedy were trying the local bars. If they didn't find her in the city they were going to head out of town to check out various places they had frequented to get their slay on. It was while she was staring blankly at Faith's apartment door that Buffy remembered a conversation they had a while ago about a spot high up on the mountain on the outskirts of town that Faith liked to go.

As Buffy trudged up the side of the mountain, she had to wonder how in the world Faith had found this place. She reminded herself to ask her.

"I knew I should have never told you about this place, B." Faith called out softly, not wanting to break the peacefulness of the night.

"How'd you know it was me?" Buffy asked just as quietly.

As she emerged from the dense thicket of trees, she had to agree with Faith's assessment of the clearing. It truly was beautiful, serene, tranquil and untouched by man, demon, and Fae. It would have been the last place Buffy would have ever thought to look for Faith. That was, the Faith she had thought she knew. The Faith, Buffy had come to know, was much different and a little bit of an enigma to Buffy.

Faith didn't bother to answer Buffy. They both knew how she knew it was Buffy and not another Slayer. They had been able to sense each other from the start, and even now, the connection Faith felt to Buffy was just slightly different then she felt with all the other Slayers. Come to think of it though, Kennedy felt a little different too.

Buffy sat on the ground next to Faith, she quickly shot off a text to the others to let them know she had found Faith and she was safe and sound. Though she didn't tell them where they were. This was Faith's place to share, not hers.

"Bo sent you?"

It was more of a statement then a question, Buffy chose to answer it anyway. "She wanted to look for you herself. We stopped her and made her follow Lauren to the Rabbit Hole." At Faith's quizzical look, Buffy gave Faith the short and sweet version of what happened at the Dal after she left.

"Quick thinking by Hale, probably flipped Lauren right the fuck out though." Faith leaned over and pulled out an ice cold beer from the backpack next to her and handed it to Buffy. "It was the right thing for you to send Bo there, would have done the same thing myself." She leaned back on her elbows and looked out of the corner of her eye at Buffy, "And stay the hell away from Vex, B."

Buffy didn't answer her; instead she leaned back on her elbows and joined Faith in staring up at the clear night sky. They sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

They were quiet for the longest time then Buffy broke the silence, "You want to talk about it?"

A small eternity passed and just when Buffy thought Faith wasn't going to answer she began to talk softly. "Not really sure what to say, it is what it is. It's not like I didn't know from the start about Lauren or how Bo felt about her. I don't think either of us ever expected to be more than just friends-with-benefits. Then again, neither of us are exactly experts. As Kenzi would say, we're social mutants. Somehow not sure how, it just started to become more. It took me by surprise, and I thought about putting an end to it, but I just couldn't. I didn't want to if the truth be told and I don't think Bo did either. I just never expected to fall for Bo."

"I don't think she expected to fall for you either." Buffy saw Faith was about to protest, so she cut her short, "And don't even try to say she doesn't feel the same way Faith, because we both know she does. She knows it too."

"What I feel, what she feels, doesn't change the fact that she's still in love with Lauren. They went through hell to be together and they deserve this chance. They deserve to be happy."

"And what about you, don't you deserve to be happy too?" Buffy questioned.

"For as long as I can remember, I never thought I did. When I got called, I thought maybe I was wrong. Thought someone, somewhere believed I was worth something so they gave me this awesome gift, and then I fucked it all up. When I finally got my shit together, I once again believed I didn't deserved to be happy, not after everything I had done. How could me being happy, having friends, a lover, falling in love be part of redeeming myself? Then I came here and that all changed. I realized I needed to be a part of the world, to actually live a life. To not only do the right thing, but also be the person the Powers thought was worthy of the gift they gave me. So yeah B, I do think I deserve to be happy. But not at the expense of someone else."

"It's not going to be easy to just let her go. Your feelings aren't going to just suddenly disappear. You do realize that, don't you?" Buffy wasn't trying to be a bitch. She had been in Faith's place before so she knew firsthand what it was like to put aside what you wanted and do what was best for everyone involved or at least what you thought was best.

"You think I don't know that? This isn't the first time I've fallen for someone who was in love with someone else. But unlike last time, I'm a little wiser and my eyes are wide open. They have been from the start. As much as I want to be with Bo, as much as I want to fight for her, I can't… _no I won't_… it wouldn't be fair to Lauren, it wouldn't be fair to Bo and it wouldn't be fair to me. And if I did fight, and Bo chose me, in the end I would never really be happy anyway. I couldn't, because the cost of my happiness would be someone else's misery. So yeah, I know it's not going to be easy, been there, done that, got the orange overalls. Gonna skip the whole going crazy this time around though."

"I get it. I really do. I have to say I admire you. I'm not sure I could be as strong as you if I was in your place." It was said with the utmost sincerity, and once again Buffy realized she truly didn't know this woman sitting next to her. "And have to say, skipping the whole going crazy, completely on board with that. Just know if you need to talk, or a shoulder to cry on, well I'm your girl." Buffy smiled at the scowl that crossed Faith's face at the idea of crying. "Okay so no crying, maybe sparing to let some of those feelings out."

"Thinking there's going to be a lot of sparring coming your way B," Faith smirked and thought to herself, quite possibly some tears too.

"Think I can handle you… Maybe not juiced up you, but regular you, better yet, juiced up me and regular you," Buffy laughed. She chewed her bottom lip for a second, and flipped-flopped back and forth over whether to ask her question or not, then thought screw it. "Who?"

"Who what, B?" Faith turned on her side so she was facing Buffy.

"Who was it that you fell for?" Buffy also turned on her side so she could see Faith.

"I think you know…" Faith murmured and when she saw the realization in Buffy's eyes Faith leaned towards her.

All of it was in Faith's kiss. All the love, all the desire, all the lust, all the frustration, all the fury, everything she had felt for Buffy so long ago. She poured the heart and soul of the seventeen year old she had been into the kiss. Everything she had wanted, everything she had felt and everything she had wanted to be all those years ago.

Holy Mother-of-God was the only thing running through Buffy's head. Faith kiss was gentle, tender, loving and passionate all at once. Buffy never wanted it to end. When it did she felt it keenly and mourned its loss, and the seventeen-year-old Faith she had never given a chance or had gotten to know.

Faith scooted back from Buffy, what the fuck was wrong with her? "I'm sorr…"

"Don't…" Buffy murmured, "Don't Faith, don't spoil it. That was the most beautiful kiss I've ever gotten in my whole life. It was gentle, sensual, caring, loving, passionate, adoring, it was everything." Buffy smiled softly at Faith, she tenderly pushed Faith's hair away from her face. "It was so much and not enough at the same time. It was also a hello wrapped up tenderly in a goodbye."

Faith lowered her eyes from Buffy's, after a few moments she looked up at her again. Her eyes, Buffy saw, were clear and open, nothing was hidden and Faith's smile was gentle, caring and sad.

"It was beautiful, and everything I dreamed about for years. But you're right it was a hello cloaked inside of a goodbye."

Faith didn't need to elaborate further; they both knew what she meant. It wasn't a goodbye to Bo and what Faith felt for her, but rather a goodbye to the seventeen year old Faith had been. It was a goodbye to her first love and those dreams that came with it. Buffy had been her first love, unrequited, but that hadn't stopped the feelings. Finally after all these years Faith was finally letting that seventeen year old go. Even with her gone, no one would ever claim the little piece of Faith's heart that had, still, and always would belong to Buffy.

Buffy stayed still and quiet for a long while. Her mind playing over a million different things and she wondered how she could have been so blind. But she had been in the throes of her own first love and she hadn't been able to see anyone beyond Angel. As they shared the comfortable silence between them, Buffy realized she truly did want to be friends with the woman next to her, and she grieved for all the years they had lost.

"Have to say Faith that as far as goodbye kisses go… didn't suck."

Faith cocked her eyebrow at Buffy and gave her a half-smirk, then she couldn't help it she burst out laughing. "And I have to say Buffy; this wasn't the reaction I was expecting."

"I guess no one ever told you about Satsu and me, did they?" Buffy teased, then laughed at the bug-eyed look Faith gave her.

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Willow and Kennedy showed up at the Rabbit Hole three-quarters of the way through Kenzi's story. They had stayed for a few drinks at the bar they were at after Buffy had texted them, neither had been eager to get back to the Compound. They made their way over to the bar and neither was surprised when Bo came over to join them.

"Buffy found her," Willow rushed out then added, "she's fine, though Buffy wouldn't tell us where she found Faith."

Bo let out a sigh of relief, and then it dawned on her exactly where Faith had gone. It was where she would have gone, and she had to fight the urge to go there after Faith. It was their place, the place they went to when they both wanted to forget about Slayer's, the Fae and all the supernatural things that went bump in the night. The rest of the world ceased to exist in the clearing on the mountain and they could both just simply be Bo and Faith, not the Slayer and Succubus when they were there.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything Willow's phone started chirping. She scanned the text message, "Buffy should be here any minute," Willow told Bo.

Kennedy made her way around to the other side of the bar and then shouted at the room in general, "Anyone want a drink while I'm making 'em?" She laughed when she saw every single hand in the room go up. "Okay usual for everyone… Um… Lauren what's your usual?"

"Tonight, shot of Jose', double, and a beer." Lauren was reeling from everything Kenzi was telling her, along with Giles and Xander who were filling in the missing pieces. She wasn't quite sure why this was all so shocking considering she'd been living in a world filled with Fae for years, but it was. Not to mention her gut was telling her there was something else going on here that everyone was studiously avoiding telling her.

Kennedy brought the drinks over and plopped right down next to Lauren, "So let me ask you a question Doc, any way you'd be able to fix Xander's eye?" Kennedy's goal was to become a distraction; she had seen Buffy's text to Willow and Buffy wasn't coming back alone.

"Why would I want to fix my eye, I like my patch. Besides it's a chick magnet." Xander protested, mostly because he'd been making the same joke for years. Though he had never said it to anyone, they all knew that if it were possible he'd trade in his patch for a new eye so fast their heads would spin.

"You keep telling yourself that Xand…" Kennedy looked at Lauren, "Well Doc?"

Lauren squirmed a little in her seat, talk about being put on the spot. Though the Doctor in her was curious, and without her permission her mind started going through the catalog of Fae abilities and medical discoveries that might possibly help Xander. "I wouldn't be able to say one way or another until I got a chance to see how much actual damage was done."

"That might be hard considering it was gouged out by Caleb," Xander drawled out sarcastically, "But it's a hell of a story. You see there was this preacher, evil preacher named…"

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Bo made a b-line straight for Buffy before she was fully through the door. "How is she? Is she okay? Is she going to call me?"

"Can ask me yourself," Faith answered as she stepped in right behind Buffy.

"Faith?" Bo stopped dead in her tracks. She shot a glare at Willow over her shoulder. A little warning might have been nice. Then again, who knows what she would have done if she knew Faith would be coming too.

"In the flesh," God this was hard, she had no intentions of seeing Bo so soon. But fucking Buffy had talked her into it. "Come on let's talk." She didn't wait for Bo's agreement, she just grabbed her arm, dragged her out of the room and down the hall to one of the small private study rooms.

"I was worried about you." There was so much more Bo wanted to say, but she knew she shouldn't. Speaking it all would only make it that much harder for both of them.

"No need, I'm a big girl. I've been taking care of myself for a long time, kind of an expert at it." Faith told her flippantly, then regretted it. "Sorry, knee-jerk reaction on my part. Defense is the best offense." She sat down on the couch and beckoned Bo to join her. "It was wrong of me to leave without a word, especially considering everything else that's going on. Worried a lot of people for no reason, won't happen again. I just… I just couldn't stay."

"This is such a fucking mess, I'm sorry." Bo's voice trembled with all the pent up emotions she was feeling. Confusion, angst, sorrow, joy, happiness, all at once, all the conflicting emotions running riot through her and Bo hadn't a clue what to do, how to handle them or make anything right.

"No need for sorry. Being sorry is the last thing you should be right now." Faith told Bo sincerely, her own voice a little choked up. "She came back for you Bo. Lauren came back for_you_ and you should be happy. You should be excited, and out there celebrating. She loves you. I could see it in her eyes, in her body language as she walked towards you. And you love her, we both know that."

"But…" This wasn't right, she didn't want to choose and she wished that she didn't have to. Why did she have to? It wasn't fair, goddess-damn it, it just wasn't fair.

"There is no but Bo. Neither of us made any promises. You never wavered in your love for Lauren. You were in love with her when I met you and you're just as much in love with her now. You deserve this, she deserves this, you both fought for this moment, for the right to be together. And if I was you, I'd go out there and grab onto her and never let go. You've been given a gift, don't waste it. I want you to be happy… I _need_ you to be happy." Faith meant every word she was saying, even if each of them was killing her word by word inside.

"I don't want to lose you," Bo fought back the tears that were threatening to fall. Crying would just make things worse, make things harder. A part of her heart was breaking, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

"You're not going to. This is my home, you all are my family. I'm not going anywhere." Faith smiled tenderly at Bo, and she fought the urge to just grab her and kiss her until they almost passed out and then do it all over again and again. "Well…" Faith smirked, falling back on her cocky persona to get her through the next few minutes, "I actually am, for a couple of days anyway. I'm gonna grab the camping gear and head up to the mountain, away from the nosy bodies and just hang out and stare at the stars." _And drink myself into a stupor so I can forget just for a little while,_ she thought to herself.

"I wish…" Bo started but was stopped by Faith's callous finger being laid gently across her mouth.

"No, don't make wishes or promises you can't keep or will regret… I promise you, no matter what, everything will be alright. Besides…" Faith paused, arched her eyebrow, and gave Bo her infamous cocky half-smile, as she ignored the parts of her that were breaking into little pieces, "I know I told you about the wish demons and we so don't want to go there. Tends not to work out too well."

"I…" But really what could she say? Telling Faith how she felt about her would only make it harder for both of them to walk away from what was between them. So instead, Bo just pulled her to her and hugged Faith for all she was worth, then whispered tenderly in her ear. "I wouldn't trade a minute of my time with you for anything, Joe."

"Me either, Tinkerbell…" Faith whispered just as tenderly in return. "…me either."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After Faith left, Bo sat on the couch and finally let the tears go. With each teardrop a piece of what she felt for Faith was stored away and taking refuge with all the broken pieces of her heart. When there were no more tears left to cry, she locked it all away, a part of her knowing that those feelings wouldn't stay down forever.

She took a few deep breathes to compose herself and then with a resolute set of her shoulders she rose from the couch and headed back out into the main room. She had been given a gift, Faith was right about that, but the gift hadn't been only in the form of Lauren, Faith herself was a gift. She wasn't going to look either gift horse in the mouth; somehow, someway Bo was determined to make this right for everyone. For now though she was going to do as Faith asked. She was going to grab onto Lauren, and the gift they had been given and never let go.

She headed straight towards Lauren, ignoring everyone else in the room. Without even turning her head she tossed Faith's apartment keys to Kenzi. "Faith said make yourself at home, she's gonna be gone for a couple of days." Bo continued past Kenzi. She came to a halt in front of Lauren and just simply held out her hand.

Without a word Lauren took Bo's hand and stood up. With that simple, unquestioning gesture by Lauren, Bo felt the tension drain completely out of her body. She began walking them towards the exit. "We'll be taking a few days to ourselves as well, would appreciate it if you didn't bother us unless it an emergency." Bo tossed over her shoulder right before they exited the room hand in hand.

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They were silent on the ride from the Rabbit Hole over to the Lauren's house. They made their way just as silently into the house, Bo went to the kitchen to pour them a glass of wine while Lauren made herself comfortable on the couch. Bo handed the wine to Lauren then sat down next to her, turning slightly so they were facing each other.

Lauren just let her eyes caress Bo's face, until finally she looked up into the liquid brown of Bo's eyes. "I missed you." Lauren murmured and then without any hesitation she leaned in and softly kissed Bo.

"I missed you too." Bo husked and rejoiced in the taste of Lauren once more upon her lips. "We should talk first."

"We should," Lauren gave Bo a quirky smile, "…but I really don't want to."

"You need to know, while you were gone I was with som…"

Lauren silenced Bo by putting her fingers lightly across her mouth. "You don't need to tell me. I know what it will mean to be in a relationship with a Succubus and if I couldn't accept that, I wouldn't have come back Bo."

"But you don't understand," Bo tried, Lauren needed to know that it was more than just someone for her survival. Lauren needed to know about Faith. "You need to know about…"

"I know there were others while I was gone," Lauren cut Bo off again, she really didn't want details. Some part of her knew that it wasn't just others, that it was a 'someone'. She didn't know how she knew, just that she did, some might call it woman's intuition. But what mattered was that Bo was here with her and not with whoever that 'someone' was. "Is it me you want to be with? Are you still as much in love with me as I am with you? That's all I need to know."

"Yes," it was such a simple word and it carried everything she felt for Lauren in its simplicity. It wasn't a lie, it was the hard cold truth, but it was also a truth that Bo knew belonged to someone else too.

_'And if I was you, I'd go out there and grab onto her and never let go. You've been given a gift, don't waste it. I want you to be happy… I need you to be happy…' _

With those words echoing in her mind, Bo once again held out her hand to Lauren and Lauren without any hesitation took it. Without any more words between them they made their way upstairs.

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By the time they made it to the top of the stairs, their need to touch, to love, to fuck, to make love became overwhelming. Lauren took Bo by surprise when she slammed her up against the wall in the hall and kissed her roughly, demandingly until Bo's toes curled. It went on this way as they made their way haphazardly down the hallway towards the bedroom, they barely managed to get their clothes off and make it to the bed, before Bo went into overload. They became nothing more than an explosion of hungry mouths, clashing teeth, rough hands, as their need for each other overrode everything, until they both shattered in a mind numbing climax that came way too soon for either of them.

"Well that was…"

"Fast…" Lauren finished for Bo, then started laughing.

"Sometimes fast is good."

"And sometimes slow is better."

"Is that your professional opinion Doctor, or just a personal one?"

"Personal."

"And if I say I don't believe slow is better?"

Lauren rolled over on top of Bo, and settled quite snugly on her. "I guess then, I'll just have to prove it to you," she hummed against the side of Bo's neck as she trailed kisses along it.

"You might have to prove it to me more than once."

"And the problem with that would be…" Lauren trailed off, she had other things she rather be doing with her mouth.

"…right now can't see one…" Bo gasped as her nipple was surrounded and pulled into wet heat.

Lauren mouth began a slow torturous trek over the length and breadth of Bo's body. She lavished both breasts with a long wet tongue, and sharp delicate nips. She made her way back up to Bo's ear and left little love bites along her neck and collarbone. Her hands skimmed down over Bo's arms, her rib cage and her stomach, noticing the changes in Bo's body since she'd been gone. There was a leanness, a firmness that hadn't been there before she left. She could feel the wiry muscles just beneath the surface of Bo's silky skin from all the intense training. The strength of the legs that came up to circle her waist surprised Lauren a little.

Bo was in heaven the feel of Lauren mouth and hands upon her familiar and new, exciting her in a way only one other person had. She let her own hands wander over the familiar landscape of Lauren's body. Loving her breasts that seemed to made for Bo's hands. The feel of Lauren's nipple thrusting demandingly against her palms, and she happily accommodated their request. The wetness she felt pressed so intimately into her own.

Then Lauren was kissing Bo, wantonly, slowly and with an all-consuming passion. They began moving against each other, hot, wet, slick, and agonizingly slow as they kissed just as slowly. Tongues sliding, caressing, exploring, glorying in the taste of the other, as they shared each other's air. Bo clutched Lauren to her, her nails digging into her back as she pulled her down onto her harder. She celebrated at the gasp of pleasure wrestled from Lauren as she arched up into her. Their bodies became slippery with sweat, the heat between them growing with each rotation of heat against wet heat. Bo felt the rumbling of her orgasm as it seemed to start at the tips of her toes and she pulled back from their kiss gasping at the intensity of it.

Lauren fell into those eyes, she had dreamed of them every night while she was gone. As Bo started to move faster and harder beneath her she felt the beginnings of her own orgasm start its course through her body. "I love you…" Lauren whispered and she smiled softly as Bo's eyes grew wide and incoherent words tumbled from her lips as her climax took her.

Bo's whole body arched up at the force of her orgasm, lifting her and Lauren off the bed. It seemed as if she was splintering into a thousand pieces, it felt like every part of her was coming and it was never ending. Then Lauren was thrashing in her arms in the throes of her own orgasm and Bo hung on to her for dear life. Then she was coming again, just as hard, just as fiercely and Lauren was right there with her, it seemed to go on forever, until they both passed out.

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"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Lauren hugged Bo, a small smirk playing around the edges of her mouth. "Besides an actual meal might be just what the Doctor ordered." Lauren outright laughed at the pout Bo gave her.

"That's right laugh it up."

Five days, for five days they were left alone. Five days spent relearning, rediscovering each other. Five days filled with passion, with love and for Bo, five days spent trying to reconcile what she felt for Lauren and what she felt for Faith.

Over the course of those five days they had done more than just make love. They had also discussed at length the challenges they would face being together. Bo being a Succubus wasn't the only trial they would face. Both she and Lauren knew that Lauren would never be enough to sustain her, and eventually Bo would have to be with someone else to satiate her hunger. It was during this conversation that Bo had tried to tell Lauren about Faith, but she couldn't find the words. So she didn't elaborate, but she did let Lauren know she hadn't been celibate while she was gone.

Lauren had actually laughed; she had no illusions when it came to being with a Succubus. Without sexual chi, Bo would die and Lauren knew that better than even Bo did. To accept Bo, to be with in a relationship with her, she had to accept the fact that there would be times when Bo would have to turn to others to feed, to keep herself alive. So for now that issue had been laid to rest, and Bo knew that eventually she had to 'man up' and tell Lauren all of it. Lauren deserved that much, and Bo really didn't want her to hear about Faith from someone else.

That wasn't by far the biggest obstacle they would be facing. They lived in a world where human, Fae relationships were not accepted. A world where humans were considered chattel, food even, and neither woman had any illusions that the Fae world outside of their friends and family would just leave them be.

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"It should only take me a few minutes to…" Kenzi said as she came through the front door. She stopped short causing Buffy to slam right into her back, when she saw Lauren and Bo sitting on the couch drinking coffee, she had no idea they would be here.

"Welcome home," Bo smirked at the surprised look on both Kenzi and Buffy's faces. Hiding behind the smirk, her riotous emotions, everywhere she looked she saw Faith. They had come back here so Bo could get fresh clothes, and the second Bo had stepped through the door she knew it was a mistake. It had been a hellish hour waiting for Kenzi to show up, it was taking all her strength to keep up the façade that everything was okay. "Nice outfit by the way."

"Borrowed it from the Queen of Pastel over there," Kenzi jerked her head in the direction of Buffy, who just laughed at her. "Really need to take her shopping."

"I don't know, pink just might be your color," Lauren bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. "Maybe… um…"

"Buffy." Bo supplied.

"Maybe Buffy should take you shopping. I like the whole 'sorority' college girl look you've got going on." Lauren couldn't contain it, she double over she was laughing so hard, there were actual tears rolling down her face. She only started laughing harder, when Bo joined in.

"It's not that funny," Kenzi whirled towards Buffy and snarled, "You are so dead." Then she threw them all a glare and stormed upstairs to change.

"You don't really dress like that, do you?" Lauren couldn't resist asking when she finally managed to stop laughing. Bo had filled her in on the crew from Cleveland, or the Scooby Gang as they liked to be called. She knew she owed Buffy a debt of gratitude for what she had risked, what she had done for Bo. As she looked at the petite woman she found it hard to believe that she possessed the type of skill and strength that Bo claimed she did. Then again, she was still trying to process everything that had happened since she had been gone. It was enough to make her head spin.

"Not for a really long time." Buffy snickered.

"Then…"

"I just couldn't resist, you should have seen the look on her face when I brought her the clothes at Faith's." Buffy's eyes sparkled with amusement.

Lauren didn't miss the slight flinch by Bo at the mention of Faith's name. Nor did she miss the flash of sadness. Lauren wasn't stupid by any means; she knew what Bo had been trying to tell her. There hadn't just been others, when she was gone, there had been someone else, someone Bo had come to care a great deal about. She had been glad that it hadn't been Dyson; she really didn't want to go down that road again. She respected him, had come to care for him, and she really didn't want to see him hurt.

Little by little as Bo told her about everything that happened when she was gone, Lauren had figured out exactly who that 'someone' was. It was in the way Bo said her name, the little bit of sadness that Lauren saw in her eyes amidst the love and happiness. Sooner or later she knew it would all come out, but for now Lauren wouldn't push Bo. For now she just wanted to enjoy this time together.

From everything Bo had told her, Lauren knew Faith's life hadn't been easy and here amongst Bo and company, Faith had finally found friends, a family, a place to call home and Lauren had no intention of destroying that for her. Faith had bowed out gracefully, and even though Lauren had never met Faith in person, she respected her for that and felt a little sad that her own happiness came at the expense of Faith's. Despite all that Lauren knew that if Faith should ever try to take Bo away from her, she would have one hell of a fight on her hands.

"You didn't happen to get any pictures of her the last few days did you?" Bo smiled just at the thought.

"Actually I did," Buffy pulled her phone out of her pocket, "Wanna see?"

"Wanna see what," Kenzi asked, happy once more to be back in her own clothes. She swore up down and sideways that pastel colored clothes gave her a rash. She spied the phone in Buffy's hand, "I deleted the pictures Buffy, couldn't let them fall in the wrong hands," Kenzi paused and looked at Bo, "I do after all have a rep to maintain."

"Bitch," Buffy mumbled.

"You've got that right Ultragirl."

Buffy just rolled her eyes at the ridiculous nickname Kenzi had given her. "Whatever, we've got to get going. We still need to pick up Willow and Kennedy. You know how Giles gets when we show up late."

"Everyone going to be there?" Bo tried to sound casual, but she'd didn't fool any of them, including Lauren. They all knew she was asking about Faith.

Buffy decided to take pity on her and answer her unasked question, "Yep… well everyone but Hale and Faith. Hale decided to nip the potential shit storm in the bud, and is meeting with the Morrígan. Faith well… as she said, and I quote, _'Taking my ten-year overdue vacation for the next week and if the 'Big Bad' shows up looking for me, tell it I've gone fishing B and will look it up when I get back_.' Unquote and we really do need to get going, I loathe grumpy Giles. You coming with us or taking your own car?"

"With you," Lauren answered for her and Bo, going with her gut that Bo would prefer to be around a group of people right now.

"So…" Kenzi started as they headed towards the car, "Ready for your first Wonderland meeting at the Rabbit Hole?"

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"Nice to finally meet you, Dr. Hotpants." Faith said hoarsely.

In all the scenarios that had played in her head on the when, the where, even the how she would finally meet Lauren face to face, she could honestly say that this one never factored into any of them.

No way in hell being dumped at Lauren's feet, hogtied and beaten to within an inch of her life had played a part in even the wildest of Faith's visions of her first meeting with the esteemed Dr. Lewis. Yet, here she was in that exact position, and wishing for all she was worth that it was merely a very bad dream. The pain radiating through every inch of her body from the repeated beatings over the course of the last week told her it wasn't a dream, rather she was wide awake in a living nightmare.

"I'm Fa…"

"Faith, I know…" Lauren scrambled across the floor of the cell, the sound of Faith's husky voice breaking the horror filled stupor she had been in. "We've been looking for you for over a week."

Lauren helped Faith to sit up. She gently pulled her backwards and eased Faith back so she could rest against the wall. She would have taken the restraints off but unlike Faith she wasn't a Slayer and didn't possess the strength it would take to snap them.

"I'm going to check you to see how badly you're injured. I'll try not to hurt you," Lauren's voice came out low, and she pushed back the tears that wanted to spill. Her hands were gentle as she skimmed them over Faith's body. She found four broken ribs, multiple contusions, and puncture marks on her neck, arms, shoulders and leading down to her breasts were the vampires had fed from her. She didn't realize as she was examining Faith that she was mumbling under her breathe all the injuries that had been inflicted upon Faith as she categorized them and tried to think of how the hell she could help her.

"Bo was right." Faith chuckled, then gasped in pain. _Fuck it hurt to laugh!_

"About what?" Lauren asked. Her brow furrowed in confusion at the amusement in Faith's voice. For the life of her Lauren couldn't figure out what Faith thought was so funny, because as far as Lauren could see there wasn't one damn thing about the situation that was even remotely amusing.

"Doctor geek speak is hot," Faith smirked at Lauren. "Til now, I really didn't believe her."

Lauren stared at Faith in utter amazement. This was insane and yet she couldn't help but smile at Faith. "Don't talk, your ribs are broken and I'm afraid one of them may puncture your lung."

"Okay but I need you to know," Faith eyes were gentle, determined and sincere as she looked directly into Lauren's eyes. "I promise I'll get you out of here alive and in one piece, no matter what it takes."

As she stared back into Faith's soulful eyes, Lauren believed her.

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Lauren got up from the floor after Faith passed out and made her way over to the small sink in the corner of the cell. She ripped a strip of cloth from the bottom of her shirt and made her way back over to Faith. She knelt down next to the Dark Slayer and gently pushed the hair back from her battered face. She trampled on all the emotions running havoc over her as she stared at Faith and tried to look at her with just clinical eyes. Carefully and slowly she began to clean the caked blood from Faith's face and body. The task was finished far too quickly; the reality was there wasn't much she could do for Faith here. She went back over to the sink and rinsed out the bloody cloth and then made her way back to Faith. She sat down next to Faith and with the utmost care; Lauren lowered Faith so her head was resting in her lap.

Her eyes scanned around the cell looking for any weakness. She laughed to herself, prior to meeting up with Bo she wouldn't have had a clue what to look for. She had learned a lot from Bo and Kenzi over the last two year and right now she wished Kenzi was here, because without a doubt, Lauren knew Kenzi would be able to pick the lock on the cell door.

If… _no_ _when_… they got out of here it was a skill Lauren was going to ask Kenzi to teach her. Lauren wouldn't be the only one who'd be getting schooled though. That fucking little Slayer that had betrayed them would be getting taught a lesson by Lauren she would never forget, of that Lauren was sure of. That little bitch was the reason she was here, a guest of the mysterious 'Big Bad' and from the few comments the deceiving Slayer had made to Lauren, Lauren was pretty positive the traitorous Slayer was how the 'Big Bad' had found Faith a week ago and snatched her up too.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter – 18**

One, two, three, four, five, six… It was exactly fifty-three steps from one end of the room to the other, and Bo counted each and every one. Only vaguely hearing the clicking of her boots against the hardwood floor, it was a wonder she hadn't worn a trench in it considering how many times over the last twelve days she had made the circuit. She was beginning to feel like a Ping-Pong ball as she paced back and forth. It was how Bo distracted herself as she waited for the others. Waited while they ate, showered, even slept. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept. Was it yesterday or the day before? Quite possibly it had been even longer. She was beyond exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't close her eyes; couldn't bear to see the horror show that played like a broken record on the inside of her closed eyes.

The last twelve days had been a living hell. It was…

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_…the fourth night after Faith had gone 'fishing'. _

_Lauren had been spending her days busily reacquainting herself with the lab at the Ash's compound. While Bo had filled Lauren's nights showing her all the wonders of being intimately involved with a Succubus. They had started Lauren on the same training schedule as the others and after the first session Lauren understood exactly how Bo had gotten so buff. Like Bo and Kenzi before her, Lauren was a little bit in awe of the strength and prowess of the Slayers, most especially Kennedy and Buffy._

_Her days were filled with stories of the Scooby Gang's exploits of which Lauren couldn't help but notice, didn't include Faith in most of them. Little by little, each of them filled Lauren in on their history with Faith. What surprised her though was that each one of them regretted their actions and the part they played, and each took their own share of the blame for what had happened all those years ago._

_They were all at the compound, just having finished a late dinner. They had taken Lauren out earlier that night for her first vampire hunt, Slayer Style. _

_They had just been saying their farewells for the night when they were all hit with what felt like at first a tiny energy ripple. With amazing speed and ferocity that ripple turned to a swell, then a tidal wave, and finally a tsunami of such force that it brought half of them to their knees. Then it was gone, nothing remained and it left each and every one of them dumbfounded in its wake._

_"What the hell was that?" Dyson growled, as he struggled to keep his wolf from coming out._

_"I feel weird, like someone drained all the magic right out of me." Willow was shaken down to her very core._

_"Feel like I'm chi-less." Bo mumbled confused._

_"Slayerless," Buffy chimed in._

_"I feel… I feel…" Kenzi's brow furrowed in thought, "…actually I feel human. Not a big surprise, cause I am human… that is. But for a second there I felt like…"_

_Kennedy was left speechless, her mind going a mile a minute. The surge it was pure power, pure… familiar… power… For all of one second she had felt like… Oh shit… oh shit… "You could move mountains, move the very heavens themselves." Kennedy finished for Kenzi. She stared directly at Buffy and she watch as the realization of what she was implying washed over Buffy's face. Then like dominos falling one by one they all nodded in agreement, "Faith… that was Faith we felt." They all stared at her a little confused. "Think about it…" It was Kennedy realized a sort of psychic SOS and she knew that Faith was in trouble. "Faith… she's connected to all of us in one way or another. I think she was trying to let us know she's in trouble, we need to find her and fast."_

_But they weren't fast enough and they knew it before they even made it three-quarters of the way up the mountain, when Dyson smelled blood, Faith's blood. It had been imprinted on him from the time he had fought with her that day in gym at the compound. They ran the rest of the way up the mountain, and when they reached the campsite, the Scooby Gang got their first glimpse of Dyson's wolf._

_The campsite looked like a war zone. The tent was nothing but a pile of sliced and diced canvas and broken and splintered poles. Ashes from the campfire were scattered all over and Buffy suspected mixed with dust from what once were vampires. There was blood everywhere. Faith had put up one hell of a fight, that much was certain. _

_Dyson tracked Faith's scent down the back side of the mountain. Once they hit the highway the trail went cold. _

_It was that night, standing on the top of the mountain that Bo came to the realization that she wasn't just beginning to fall in love with Faith. She was without a doubt still head over heels in love with Lauren and without a doubt she was also head over heels in love with Faith too. How that was even possible she didn't know. She only knew it was true and for the second time that night her world was turned upside down…_

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Lauren shook her head, her face scrunched up in a grimace of macabre amusement. She forced herself to stop pacing around the ten by fifteen foot cell as she waited for them to bring Faith back. Over the last three days she gained a perfect understanding of why Bo had spent so much time pacing back and forth as she waited to go out searching again.

It was the mindlessness of it, the need to keep moving. To not think in order to keep the nightmare visions that played repeatedly on the insides of Lauren's eyes every time she closed them, she couldn't even imagine what it was like for Bo. Bo had been filled with rage, grief, worry and pain over Faith being taken, and after those first few days Lauren had begun to worry for Bo's sanity.

If she hadn't already known that Bo cared about Faith as more than just a friend…

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_…it became blatantly clear after those first couple of days. And by the end of the ninth day after Faith had gone missing, Lauren knew as surely as Bo was in love with her, she was also in love with Faith. _

_The effort Bo was making to keep that fact from Lauren was just eating her up inside and making everything else Bo was feeling escalate to the point of almost losing complete control. Lauren knew what that was like first hand. It hadn't been too long ago that it had been her keeping secrets from Bo. She also knew what it was like to be in love with two people at once. Granted Nadia had been in a coma for over five years, and Lauren had, though she had never admitted it, begun to believe that she would never come out of it. But it didn't change the fact that when Nadia had been released from the curse she had been under, Lauren had found herself in love with two women. And the effort to keep that from Nadia had almost destroyed Lauren._

_Lauren had lived in that same glass house, so there was no way in hell she'd be throwing any stones. She had been, after all, gone for months without a word. Even though they had never talked about, she knew that Bo had not gone out looking to fall in love with someone else, nor had Bo ever stopped loving her. The heart wants what the heart wants, the heart loves who the heart loves and Lauren knew that better than most._

_Bo was on the edge, they all knew it and Lauren couldn't stand by and do nothing. She couldn't bear to watch Bo beat herself up any longer. Lauren moved so she blocked Bo when she turned to start pacing back across the room again. "You need to stop this. You need to eat and you need to sleep."_

_"I can't… you don't understand… I can't." Bo said from between gritted teeth._

_"You can and you will. Stop beating yourself up, this isn't your fault."_

_"It is… you don't understand…" Bo repeated, not knowing how else to explain, "…she wouldn't have been… you just don't understand… if it w…"_

_Lauren cut her off, she gently clasps Bo's hands with her own. "I do understand, I know how you feel, I know why you're blaming yourself. But beating yourself up, exhausting yourself to the point of collapsing isn't going to help anyone or anything. And from everything I've been told about Faith, this is the last thing she'd want you to be doing. _

_"You can't possibly understand," Bo reiterated, "there so much I didn't tell you…"_

_Lauren cut her off again, "I do know, I'm a lot of things but blind isn't one of them. The most important thing right now is to get her back… everything else can wait. So get yourself together Bo, you're no good to anyone this way." It was said softly with a steel edge and with the utmost love. "If you need to talk, if that's what it's going to take to get yourself together then we'll talk. But not until you've eaten and slept. You haven't done either in days. Please Bo, do it, if not for yourself, then for me and for Faith."_

_Bo just nodded, they would talk, she needed to talk. No it wasn't fair to Lauren to dump this all on her, it wasn't fair to anyone. She had made a mess of things, but Lauren deserved the truth. She let Lauren lead her to the table, and then when they were finished eating, she let her lead her to one of the private rooms to rest. Lauren kissed her softly goodnight, telling her she'd be back in a little bit, she was going home to get clean clothes for both of them._

_Lauren and the Slayers that accompanied her were ambushed outside of her house. They hadn't stood a chance. They were outnumbered six to one. It wasn't only Slayer-Vampires that assaulted them, there were Demons and Fae in the mix, this was bigger and better organized than any of them had imagined. Right before the tranquilizer dart knocked her out, Lauren saw that one of her Slayer escorts was still standing, and for one second she had hope that she might make it out in one piece. Hope until she saw the Slayer embrace one of their attackers, a woman with a pink Mohawk. Then like her consciousness, her hope faded away._

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Faith spit blood into the face of one of the Slayer-Vamps. "You're pathetic, you were pathetic as a Slayer and you're even more pathetic now."

Her answer from the ex-Slayer now Vampire was a slap across the face so hard it made her ears ring. She had no clue why she bated them, but each time they dragged her in here and chained her up on the wall like a slab of meat, she did. First they pumped her up with drugs that took away most of her Slayer powers, as well as her ability to feed from all the other Slayers. She suspected it was something very similar to what the Watcher's Council had used on all the Slayers before her, for their Cruciamentum.

Then they would use her as their personal punching and kicking bag, until the session was called to a halt or she passed out on them. The worst part though wasn't the beatings. The worst part was when they fed on her. The feel of those cold lips on her skin, the painful sliding in of their fangs as they pierced her skin and the lust she could feel that came when they drank. It made her skin crawl.

They had come for her…

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_"…at Midnight, the witching hour or so it was called, it was almost poetic. Faith had been relaxing, cold beer in hand, staring up at the night sky. It was on nights like these, with the full moon shining down upon her, warm and inviting, Faith could forget who and what she was. On a night such as this she could pretend she was just some ordinary girl relaxing in her back yard, an ice cold beer in hand, enjoying the bitter yet sweet taste of each sip upon her tongue. Pretend that there was nothing to fear out there in the dark, beyond the normal garden variety human evil. Pretend that the howling off in the distance was, could never be more than just someone's pet dog baying up at the moon._

_Yes, it would be easy to pretend she was some ordinary, everyday normal girl, if she had ever been ordinary and normal, but she had never been that, not even as a child. And she had learned long before she ever became a Slayer that evil didn't solely belong to the supernatural, in fact in some cases the worst evil came in human form._

_Hell even her personal life wasn't normal. She was in love with a Succubus who was in love with someone else. She had realized that night as she was walking away from Bo, struggling to keep the tears at bay, that she wasn't just falling for the sultry Succubus, she had already fallen and fallen hard. She was head over heels, completely and utterly in love with Bo. Could it get any more complicated than that? _

_She had no more time to contemplate her life, or wish for things that would never be, one minute she was alone and the next she wasn't. Seemed Peggy wasn't the only Fae in town that could create a portal. Then it was on. Faith fought like a mad woman. There were vampires, Slayer-Vamps, Fae and Demons. This was far bigger, far more organized and far more spread out then they had imagined. In that moment Faith realized they were not dealing with any garden variety big bad._

_She left a trail of dead demons and Fae and piles of dust as she forged an escape path. She feed off the other Slayers, boosting her strength, her speed but it wasn't enough, there were too many of them. She started running towards the side of the mountain, then down the back side towards the sheer cliff she knew was there. There was no way in hell she would let them turn her that was not an option. The first dart hit her about halfway to the cliff. Then a second hit her, and a third, fourth and Faith stopped counting as she ran. She felt the drugs begin to course through her and she knew she wouldn't make it. She had to warn the others, with the last of her strength, she pulled in all the power of the Slayers, then pushed it back out. Focusing on Buffy, Kennedy, the rest of the Scooby Gang, Bo, Kenzi, and the rest of her Fae family and she prayed they would understand, and then her world went black._

_She woke up chained to a wall, groggy but still alive, heart beating, her lungs still drawing breath. She didn't get much time to think on it or even a chance to ask why she was still alive. Silently they entered and just as silently they began to beat her. As the days passed and one blended into another, she never did come to know why she was here. Or why they dragged her from her cell three, four, sometimes more times a day and beat her. She had no idea what they were after, they asked her no questions, nor did they try to bargain with her to make the pain stop. At this point she was almost positive they weren't going to turn her. They were trying to break her that much was obvious. They had a long road ahead of them, if they thought a few beatings would accomplish that._

_Faith had grown up in squalor, in a rundown crack tenement on the south-side of Boston. Her clothes, bed and even the few toys she possessed all hand me downs from the local Salvation Army. Most nights she went to bed hungry, scared and bruised. Her Mother had been a mean, vicious drunken crack head. Faith had learned early to avoid her and her hurtful hands. She wasn't always quick enough though and it was on those nights she took the brunt of all the anger her Mother had caged up inside. If anyone ever noticed the bruises upon the frail young child they never said a word or did anything to help her. At the tender age of five, Faith had learned how cruel the world could be. It was a lesson she learned repeatedly and from more than just her Mother throughout the years._

_Fuck her Mother and fuck them. They could, like her Mother, beat the living shit out of her multiple times over the course of each day, but they would never break her. Hell, she had even managed to kill quite a few of them on the trip from the cell to the torture room, each time. Until they finally smartened up and that was how she had ended up with her hands chained behind her back and barefoot. She was beginning to believe that getting turned made them stupid. It had taken seven dead Slayer-Vamps and almost as many days to figure that one out. She had learned a few things in that first week. _

_One - it was possible to dust a vampire by twisting its head completely off its body. _

_Two - it was also possible to turn them to dust by yanking their hearts right the fuck out of their chests. _

_And three - the heels of her motorcycle boots were wooden, because she had put one through the heart of a vampire, and poof just like that said vampire was dust._

_Day after day they beat her, fed from her and eventually Faith figured they would hit her just a little too hard, a little too often and she would die here alone, never knowing why she was here, or what they were after. That was, until she woke up one day to the soothing feeling of having her hair gently stroked. For one second she thought she might be dreaming, because when she opened her eyes she was staring up into the concerned burnt umber pools of Lauren's eyes._

_Feisty, full of courage, brave, jump right into a fight, heart of gold Lauren and Faith understood completely after only one day exactly why Bo was so in love with Lauren._

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They beat her so bad this time she was unable to walk. They dragged her back to the cell and Faith didn't even have the strength to lift her head. They tossed her unceremoniously through the cell door and she watched in a haze as the floor rose up to meet her. She tried to twist her body as she flew through the air, but it wasn't cooperating with her at all. She braced herself for the impact, and prayed all the bones in her face didn't break. But it wasn't the cold hard floor she landed on. Instead she was caught by deceptively strong arms, which carried them both down to the floor and it was a soft, yet firm body that cushioned her fall.

"Nice catch Doc," she whispered hoarsely. They hadn't broken her, but they had made her scream… continually.

"Thanks," Lauren whispered back, fighting off the tears. She had heard Faith's non-stop screams of pain and each one made her heart clutch in fear and anguish for the Dark Slayer. In the three days Lauren had been here this had to be the worst beating Faith had taken. Beatings, to Lauren's trained eyes, that seemed to be escalating. "How are you doing?"

"Could use a vacation, you?" Faith laughed, then groaned in pain. She hated when it hurt to laugh and that thought almost made her laugh again.

"Sounds good to me," Lauren sat up, pulling Faith up with her as gently as possible. She moved her back to lean up against the wall and then got up from the floor and made her way over to the sink. It was the start of what had become a routine for them both over the last few days.

Lauren would rip a piece of her shirt off, wet it, then use it to clean up Faith as best as possible. Making sure all the cuts were thoroughly cleaned out, the last thing she wanted was an infection. Once she was done she'd grab whatever food they had left for them and she would feed both herself and Faith, making sure most of the food went to Faith. Then Lauren would carefully lay Faith down, her head in her lap.

Sometimes Faith would drift right off to sleep. Then there were the times that Faith would talk, her words slow and slurred, but still understandable. The repeated beatings bringing up memories that Faith had thought were long ago laid to rest. It was quite possible that Lauren knew more about Faith and her days prior to Sunnydale than anyone else on the face of the earth. She knew if it weren't for the drugs coursing through Faith's system making her for the most part delirious, that it was unlikely that Faith would have told her most of what she had revealed. No one had to tell Lauren, that Faith rarely, if ever, spoke about her childhood, other than the odd passing comment, or a snide self-depreciating remark.

The more she came to know Faith, a Faith, Lauren was sure few had seen with her walls this far down, the more Lauren came to respect and admire her. Yes Faith had fallen, had slipped and become all that she was brought up to believe she was, but she had found the strength, the inner fortitude to rise above it. Struggling day to day, fighting for her life and fighting to become all she was meant to be.

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It was Faith struggling to get her chained hands from behind her back to her front that woke Lauren from her light doze. "What are you doing?" It came out harshly, but Lauren's was more concerned with Faith hurting herself than being polite.

Faith didn't bother to answer, all her energy was being directed towards getting her hands over her butt, up her legs, and around to her front. It was no easy task, her body was abused, bruised and beaten in a way it hadn't been for a very long time, but she dug deep and found a strength she had forgotten she possessed.

Lauren scrambled up to her feet, shaking the last remnants of sleep from her mind. To say she was slightly amazed when Faith accomplished her goal was an understatement. She reached down to help Faith up to her feet when she saw her try to stand. "Let me help you."

"You can help me by going over by the sink and staying out of my way," Faith demanded, though she knew that Lauren was just going to ignore her. They had this same conversation each and every time they came for Faith, since the first day Lauren became her cellmate.

"Not happening."

Faith stared at Lauren hard, a determined look on her face, "They're coming. It'll be easier for me to protect you if you're over there." She didn't really mean to be so abrupt, but goddess she hurt, and hurt bad.

"No." Lauren stared back at Faith just as determined.

"This isn't a debate Rocky, just do it." Faith had given Lauren the nickname that very first day, when Lauren had launched herself at one of the Slayer-Vamps like she was Rocky Balboa going after Mr. T.

"If you think I'm going to hide in a corner and do nothing you're out of your mind." There was no way, she might only be human. She might not be the best fighter, but there was no way in hell she would hide in the corner like a coward and let this woman who could barely stand fight alone. "We fight or fall together…" Lauren gave Faith another hard stare, "…and do we really need to go through this again. Wouldn't do it yesterday or the day before and I'm sure as hell not going to do it today."

"What is it with you Wonderland people? You're just like Bo and Kenzi, they never listened either." Faith griped. And just like Bo and Kenzi, Faith had to admire Lauren for it, it wasn't always all about who was strongest, who fought best, sometimes what turned the tide of a fight, had nothing to do with any of that. Sometimes it was all about heart and Lauren had more than plenty of that.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Lauren smirked, a hint of amusement in her voice. Though there was nothing amusing about any of this.

"You should," Faith smiled despite herself.

There was no more time for talk as the outer door to the holding cells was opened and four Slayer-Vamps entered the room. They headed straight for the cell Lauren and Faith were in. They opened the cell door and stepped in. Faster than Lauren could have ever expected, considering the shape Faith was in, Faith placed herself in front of her. "I don't listen to well either," Faith tossed over her shoulder at Lauren with a laugh. There was no way in hell she would let these abominations in front of her know how bad she was truly hurting.

Faith turned her attention back to the Slayer-Vamps, she'd die before she let them touch Lauren. In all probability it would be a quick death on her part. She was in no shape to take on a single regular vamp, let alone four Slayer-Vamps.

"So which one of you wants to see God today…" Faith asked them a cocky smile gracing her face, "…or rather in your case, Satan?"

Lauren took a small step to the side intending to move next to Faith, but Faith moved with her, effectively blocking her again. She thought about doing it again then thought better of it. The last thing she wanted to do was have Faith spending more time trying to counter her, then paying attention to the vile dead things in the cell with them. Instead, she put her hand on Faith's lower back, lending her strength and helping to steady the slightly wobbly Slayer.

"What no volunteers…" It looked like getting turned not only made them stupid, but cowards as well. Faith smirked at them, "…to die… again."

"Now, now, no one needs to die today," came a semi-familiar voice from the doorway.

"You fucking little bitch," Lauren snarled and then tried to move around Faith only to be blocked. She tried again, took a half step then stopped when she realized just how shaky Faith truly was. Instead, she slid her hand further up Faith's back, giving her a little more support.

"Such language Dr. Lewis, I hope you don't use it around your patients. That would be completely unprofessional of you." The Slayer turned her gaze to Faith, "And look at you all protective of your lover Bo's, lover... isn't that just sweet." The traitorous Slayer looked disappointed that she didn't get the reaction she wanted from either of them when she purposely let slip Faith's relationship to Bo. She knew for a fact that neither Bo, nor any of the others had told Lauren about it. What she didn't know was that Lauren had figured it all out on her own and had she not; Faith in some of her drug induced ramblings had told Lauren most of her and Bo's story.

Faith stared at the small woman by the door dumfounded for all of one second, then she burst out laughing. "I'm being _'Punk'd' _aren't I? You're the big bad? Can't be! No fucking way! Tell me she's not the big bad!" Faith said to the Slayer-Vamps. At the negative shake of all four Slayer-Vamps in the room, she added fuel to the fire when she choked out between snorts of laughter. "You're not are you? You're just some sorry little lackey to a Vamp. You're even more pitiful than they are, and your boss well she's nothing but a pussy too afraid to show me her face!" Faith started laughing again, and she laughed harder at the fury she saw in the other Slayer's eyes.

She was ready for her, as the other Slayer launched herself at her. Faith braced herself for the attack, leaning back into Lauren, who had enough presence of mind to firmly plant her feet and add her other hand as support as well. The sorry excuse for a Slayer rushed Faith and using every ounce of strength she possessed and some that she didn't know she had, Faith kicked the dark haired woman away from her and across the room. She was eternally grateful for Lauren's hands on her back because, had she not added her support, more than likely Faith would have ended up on her ass after that stunt. "See pathetic. You never had what it took to be a Slayer, and even now without my powers I'm more of a Slayer than you'll ever be." Faith started laughing again.

"Take her." The other Slayer snarled.

They didn't bring her down easily, Faith managed to snap one Slayer-Vamp's neck and break the knee cap of another. Lauren fought right at her side, punching, kicking and even pulling hair. But in the end both women were brought down.

"Take her to the other room. We'll see who's laughing last."

"It'll be me! And you… well you'll still be a pathetic wanna-be who should have never become a Slayer." Faith sneered. "So give it your best shot, cause in the end it'll be _me_ laughing at _you_, Choa-ahn."

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So no, beating her wouldn't break her, nor would chaining her up like an animal. Her Mother hadn't been able to, nor had any of the others that came during and after her. She sure as hell wasn't going to let a bunch of Slayer-Vamps, demons or a pathetic, sorry excuse for a Slayer accomplish what no one else could. Faith was a survivor first and foremost, she just prayed to whatever deity that was listening that she had the strength to ensure that Lauren survived this too. In the condition she was in though it was unlikely either of them would survive and she felt helpless for the first time in a long time and Faith hated herself for it.

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In the cell Lauren started to pace again as she heard the first of Faith's painful screams. She wanted to cover her ears with her hands and block out the sound, but she wouldn't. The idea alone felt almost disrespectful to Faith, if Faith could endure than so could Lauren. So she paced and waited. Waited for them to bring Faith back, broken, bloody and delirious from the drugs they were pumping in her. Paced, because if she stopped, the helplessness of it all would overwhelm her, she was helpless to even remotely protect Faith or herself if it came down to it. Helpless to even minimize even a little bit of Faith's pain or heal any of her injuries, she was a Doctor damn it, she should have been able to do something. She was fucking helpless and Lauren hated herself for it.

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And back at the Rabbit Hole, Bo paced and waited. And she prayed to every deity that both Lauren and Faith would be found and brought home to her safe and sound. So, she paced and waited until it was time to go back out and start searching again. Because if she stopped, if she closed her eyes for more than just the blink of an eye all she could see was Faith's bloody campsite high up on the mountain, and the broken bodies outside of Lauren's apartment. In the face of it all she felt helpless and Bo hated herself for it.

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End file.
